Broken Buggy to Freedom
by Vol lady
Summary: When Victoria is injured in a buggy accident, Jarrod manages to get her to the nearest town. But it's a near ghost town, and the reason for its decline is impossible for Jarrod to believe, until it turns out to be true.
1. Chapter 1

Broken Buggy to Freedom

Chapter 1

Jarrod gave the reins an extra slap when the horse began to slow down too much for his liking. "I think we're going to have to give old Gladys here a rest before too long," he told his mother beside him.

They were traveling together, home from the town of Palermo via a short cut Nick had recommended. Neither Jarrod nor Victoria had ever been on this road before, so they did not know what to expect. Victoria said, "We've been going steadily for a couple hours. I could stand to stretch my legs."

"I'll find a good spot," Jarrod said. "I don't know about this short cut of Nick's though. It doesn't seem very short to me."

"We'll find out if we get home much earlier than we otherwise would."

"You haven't said much about how your visit with Mary Peoples went."

Victoria sighed. "You know how it is when you're sick and alone, Jarrod. Fear dominates, especially with a woman Mary's age. I hope she'll let Reverend Morell see her more often. I think a bit of a spiritual lift will do her a lot of good. And by the way, you haven't said much about how that deposition of yours went."

"It went very well," Jarrod said. "I think the case against my client is weakening pretty quickly. With any luck, the charges will be dropped in the next few days."

"I hope so. I know you haven't – "

She didn't finish the sentence. Suddenly, the wheel on the driver's side of the buggy began to buckle, and as Jarrod tried to halt the buggy, the wheel came off. The horse reared and ripped the reins out of his hands as the buggy slid to a stop. Jarrod tried to keep a grip, but the horse broke loose, and Jarrod went flying off onto the side of the road.

Victoria tried to hold on, but it was a mistake. The buggy overturned, threw her into the road and landed on top of her. In less than ten seconds, the horse was gone, the buggy lay smashed on top of Victoria in the road, and Jarrod was crawling to his feet off to the side. Jarrod got up to his hands and knees and saw the wreckage. Their luggage was broken in the road, and his mother was broken under the carriage.

He scrambled to his feet, lunging and stumbling until he got to Victoria. Steady enough now to take care of things, he carefully lifted the buggy and moved it aside so he could get to his mother.

"Mother? Mother, are you all right?"

Victoria lay still, her leg twisted awkwardly, blood running down the side of her face.

Jarrod grabbed a clean handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the blood away. There was a bad scrape he had to keep dabbing away and he finally kept pressure on it to get the bleeding to stop. "Mother? Mother? Come on, talk to me. Come on."

Victoria finally heard his voice and opened her eyes. Jarrod was leaning over her, blood on his own forehead, worry in his eyes. She reached for him. "Jarrod – what happened?"

"A wheel came off," Jarrod said. "The buggy crashed and I went flying. You got caught under it."

Victoria tried to sit up.

"No, no," Jarrod said. "Don't move. You may have some nasty injuries."

"Are you all right?" Victoria asked and reached for her head.

Jarrod gently took hold of her arm and lowered it. "Just bumps and bruises. I was thrown clear. I've moved the buggy off you, but from the looks of it you have a bump on your head and you may have a broken leg. You've been unconscious for a couple minutes. I don't want you to move just yet."

"Where's the horse?"

"Gone, I'm afraid. After I see to you, I'm going to find the wheel and put it back on the axle. I'll rig up something so I can put you back in the buggy and pull us to some help, if no one comes along."

"I want to sit up."

"I'd rather you – Mother! You shouldn't – "

Victoria was sitting up before Jarrod could stop her. He supported her by putting one knee up behind her back and holding onto her shoulders. She held her head. Jarrod didn't see any fresh bleeding, but she seemed to have a headache.

"Now, listen to me," Jarrod said and looked her straight in the eyes. "You must stay still. I'm going to have to splint your leg and then I'll carry you off to the side of the road. There's a rock you can sit against, but you must not move anymore, do you hear me? You have a broken leg and maybe a concussion. You let me move you when it's time to move."

Victoria saw blood running down the side of his face. "You're hurt."

"Not much. Just a cut on my forehead and some scrapes and bruises. I'm going to splint your leg now. Then I'll put the wheel back on the buggy and rig up some way I can pull it. Then I'm going to put you back in it and we'll find help, but you are to stay perfectly still until I come for you. You got that?"

Victoria put her hand on his arm, smiling, trying to be comforting. She lay back down flat on the ground, unable to stay upright anymore. Jarrod kissed her on the forehead, and then he disappeared for a few minutes. When he came back, he was carrying two slats of wood and a ripped up shirt of his from their luggage that was lying in the road.

"The buggy is pretty well smashed, but I got this wood from it that ought to keep your leg immobile," Jarrod said. "The break seems to be just above your knee, but there's no bone showing. I'm gonna splint the whole leg. This is probably gonna hurt while I do it."

Victoria nodded. She bit her lip and said, "Just do it."

Jarrod felt the leg gingerly, trying not to hurt her. The bone seemed to be still lined up properly, a simple break and not a compound one, if there was a break at all. Jarrod placed the wood and splinted the leg as tightly as he could and hoped it would do until they reached help.

Victoria was perspiring, breathing hard. Jarrod ran his hand along her cheek and kissed her. "That's the hard part, Mother. You're doing well."

"I'm getting cold," she said.

Shock, Jarrod thought. "I'll get the blanket out of the buggy. I'll be right back."

Jarrod hurried back to the wrecked carriage and fetched the blanket they kept in it. He quickly brought it back over and spread it over her. "I'm going to move you over to that rock now."

"No," she said. "Just fix the buggy. We need to get out of here."

"All right. You stay just like this until I come for you. It'll take me a while to get that wheel back on and rig the buggy up for me to pull it."

"Are you sure you can pull me in the buggy?" Victoria asked.

Jarrod smiled and kissed her again. "Nick and Heath will be envious. Try not to fall asleep. I'll be as fast as I can."

Before he left, Jarrod took his suit coat off and placed it over his mother, to help the blanket keep her warm. He took off his cufflinks and pocketed them as he headed back to the buggy. Then he rolled up his sleeves, looking around.

He spotted the lost wheel down off the side of the road and fetched it. Back up the road, he saw the lug nut that had held it on, and he fetched it. It didn't look damaged. It might hold as long as they needed it to. He took it back to the buggy and then stood there, thinking, figuring, wondering how he was going to get the axle lifted far enough for him to get the wheel back on.

That rock he had spotted to lean Victoria against might do the trick. Jarrod lifted the buggy by the tongue and dragged it over to the rock. Then he lifted the axle and placed it on the rock so that he could get the wheel back on where it belonged. It wasn't long before he got it back together, but he could see now why the wheel came off. The lug nut did have a thin crack running through it.

Jarrod sighed. He was afraid the nut might not keep the wheel on very long, but he didn't have anything else to do the job. He used the tools in the back of the buggy to get the wheel back on, then he moved the buggy back away from the rock. It rolled all right, and the wheel stayed on, at least for now.

Sweating heavily, Jarrod ran his sleeve over his forehead and went back up the road to where the luggage had fallen out. He went through it, making a sling he padded with their clothing, and then rigged the sling through the tongue of the buggy and fastened it tight. He shoved the damaged bags out of the road, and retrieved the canteen that had fallen out and put it back into the buggy. Then he lifted the sling over his left shoulder and neck and walked a few steps. The buggy rolled just fine.

Heartened, Jarrod put the tongue down again and cleared much of the buggy roof away, leaving just a little to shade his mother. Then he rolled the rig back to where she lay.

"Mother?"

Victoria opened her eyes.

Heartened again, Jarrod smiled. "Are you ready to go?"

"Beyond ready," she said.

"All right. Here we go."

Jarrod lifted her and took her to the buggy. He had to find a way to lay her so that her leg was supported, but he finally worked it out so that she could keep it across the seat while leaning back against the right side of the seat arm. That done, Jarrod lifted the sling he'd rigged the tongue with and put it over his left shoulder and neck. He looked back. Victoria was all right so far.

"You may have to hold on," Jarrod said.

Victoria gripped the seat where she could. "I'm ready," she said.

Jarrod started walking, pulling, and praying.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

At least the road was fairly level and not very rutted, so the going was not too difficult for the first mile or so. As he walked and pulled, Jarrod wiped his forehead, expecting blood with the sweat, and he was right. It kept running into his eyes, but he kept wiping it away and walking, and trying to remember how far away the last signpost said the next town was supposed to be. Six miles kept tickling his memory, but he didn't know how far back the signpost was. He hoped the next town wasn't very far.

Then he came to a fork. One road continued pretty level, the other went up over a gradual hill. There was a signpost. Jarrod stopped and read it.

He put the tongue down gently. Victoria stirred, gripping the seat more tightly so as not to fall out as it tipped forward. "Why are we stopping?"

Jarrod joined her and took the canteen out from under the seat. He offered it to his mother, who took a drink. Then he drank for himself and wiped his brow again.

Victoria saw the blood smearing his face. "We can't keep going. You're bleeding."

Jarrod chuckled. "Just a cut on my forehead, Mother. You know how they bleed. Here, have another sip."

He handed her the canteen and she drank again. He took another small drink before capping it and putting it back under the buggy seat. Jarrod turned then and took a look at the signpost at the crossroads. The flatter road said that Millertown was three miles away. The road that led uphill said Done In was only one mile.

Done In, Jarrod thought with a laugh. Sounds appropriate. Millertown was the name of the town on the last signpost, but Done In wasn't on that post at all. Jarrod wiped his brow again, peering uphill, peering down the road to Millertown. He wasn't sure he could make it three miles to Millertown, but he also wasn't sure he could make it up the hill. Still, he had to decide, and of course, he had no way of knowing how rough or hilly either of these roads was beyond where he could see now.

Leave her here and take a quick look further down each of these roads? No, when he heard his mother groan, he knew he couldn't leave her, at least not for long. He decided to leave her long enough to get to the top of the hill and see if this place called Done In was in sight from up there. He lifted the tongue of the buggy and placed it on a rock so at least Victoria would be more stable while he went up the hill. He gave his mother a kiss on the forehead.

"Just hang on a bit, Mother. I'll be right back."

Jarrod made it up the hill as fast as his tired legs would carry him – and he got lucky. Not far ahead, he could see buildings, a town. New energy came over him, and he headed back down to the buggy.

"We're almost to a town, Mother," he said as he got back into the sling.

When she didn't answer, he looked her way.

"Mother?"

"I'm fine," she muttered, but she wasn't. He could tell.

Jarrod eyed that hill he'd have to get over, and he steeled himself to make the climb.

XXXXXXX

Nick took another walk out into the yard as the sun started to get low in the sky. He looked down the lane toward the road and fretted again.

"Maybe they didn't take the short cut you told them about," Heath said.

Nick hadn't realized he was there and he jumped. He shook his head. "Jarrod's wire said they would."

"Any chance they got lost?"

"Not if they followed the road to Millertown and picked the Stockton road up there. They should be here by now, Heath."

Heath looked up at the sky. "We don't have but a few hours of light left. If we're gonna go after them, we better go now."

Nick nodded. "Let's go."

XXXXXX

Jarrod was just about done in himself when he rolled the buggy into the town of Done In. At first he was alarmed – there was no one in the street and no one was coming out of any of the buildings. No wonder there were no signposts back up the way they came from. Done In was aptly named.

But the buildings didn't look like they had been abandoned for long, and there was water in the first trough he came to. The trough looked good and solid, too. Jarrod rested the tongue of the buggy on it, and it held. He crawled out, took a handful of water, and it tasted as good as any trough water would.

"Jarrod?" Victoria said.

Jarrod went to her, looking around for a bit as he did. There still were no people here. "Right here, Mother," he said, reaching for the canteen under the seat. He unscrewed the top and let her drink from it.

Once she'd taken some water, Victoria looked around and saw the buildings. "Where are we?"

Jarrod took a drink from the canteen. "A town called Done In. How's that for irony?"

They both chuckled a little, but Victoria noticed. "There's no one here."

"There has to be," Jarrod said. "There's water in the trough, and these buildings haven't been abandoned for long, if they're abandoned at all."

Victoria eyed her son and the blood now dried on his face. "Are you all right?"

"Just tired," Jarrod said. He looked around again and sighed. "Well, they have a place with 'town jail' written on it. I'll go have a look."

"Don't be long."

"I won't."

Jarrod felt a ton lighter, moving along without having to drag a buggy behind him, and he went inside the jail in just a few moments. It was a shock.

There was no one there, but the place looked like it was being used. The dates on the wanted posters on the wall were not even a month old. There were rifles locked in the rack, papers on the desk, even a coffee pot on the stove. Jarrod checked it – it was cold, as was the stove. Jarrod stood for a moment and looked around the room. He spotted a curtain over a door and went through it.

The room behind it was someone's home, the sheriff's probably. It too looked inhabited – especially given there were dishes on the table. Jarrod took a look at them. There were remains of some food there, but the food was moldy. The only thing he could think was that someone had left here a few days ago, and they had left in a hurry.

Jarrod went back outside to his mother. Victoria was still awake, but she was perspiring. Jarrod gave her a bit more water, saying, "Somebody's been here very recently, but they're gone now. I'll bet I'd find the same sort of thing elsewhere. I don't know what's going on around here."

Victoria looked around. "What do we do now?"

Jarrod sighed. "I'm going to look around some more, try to find a place to make you more comfortable. I'll look for a doctor. There's bound to be a store here where I can find some food for us, too. Then we'll have to talk and figure something out."

"All right," Victoria said, "but don't be gone long."

Jarrod smiled. "Don't you worry, Lovely Lady. The first place I'm going to look for is the doctor's office, where I might find you a comfortable bed and maybe something to clean up our cuts and scrapes. I'll be back before you know it."

Jarrod took off down the middle of the main street, searching the signs on the buildings for a doctor's office. He was concentrating so hard that he didn't even see the man standing under the sign that said "Dr. Steven Lane" until the man came down into the street. Jarrod was so startled he jumped.

"Who are you?" the man asked. He was an older man, about Jarrod's height, wearing a suit and not carrying a gun.

Jarrod stopped, staring. He finally realized the man was real and let out a weary breath. "My name is Jarrod Barkley. My mother and I were in a buggy accident. I have her back here. She has a broken leg, maybe more injuries. Do you know where the doctor is?"

"I'm the doctor," the man said, coming closer. "Where's your mother?"

Jarrod motioned back the way he came and led the doctor there. Jarrod had a million questions about what was going on in this town, but he saved them for later. Right now, the doctor had to see his mother.

When they reached the buggy, Dr. Lane took one look at her and said. "Bring her down to my office," and he turned and started back.

Jarrod slipped into the harness again and pulled the buggy away from the trough. Victoria moaned out loud. Jarrod was exhausted, but he moved faster. He was very frightened. She needed attention, right now.

When they reached the doctor's office, the doctor waited at the door while Jarrod lifted his mother out of the buggy. "We've got a doctor," he said to her as he carried her into the office. "Everything's going to be all right."

Dr. Lane took them into an examination room, and Jarrod laid her on the table there. "Wait out in the waiting room," Dr. Lane said.

Jarrod nodded, but kissed his mother before he went out to the waiting room. Dr. Lane closed the door behind him, and Jarrod was left there alone, worried. He sat down and wiped his forehead again. At least no more blood was coming onto his sleeve. The cut that had been bleeding seemed to have stopped.

But Jarrod was so exhausted from pulling the buggy that he wasn't sure he'd stay awake until Dr. Lane finished with Victoria. Jarrod sat down and leaned forward, his hands folded in front of him, his head bowed. At one point he heard Victoria cry out and he jumped up, but then he heard her say, "No, no, it's all right." He sat back down again.

He suddenly wondered if there was a telegraph office and a telegrapher in this town. If there was, he could wire his brothers and get them here to help. He didn't know Nick and Heath were already on their way.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It wasn't but half an hour or so that Dr. Lane came out of his treatment room to talk to Jarrod. "Your mother is doing fine," he said. "I'm not sure if that leg is broken or not, but I'm treating it like it is. Other than that, she just has a few scrapes and bruises and a bit of shock. Now, let me have a look at you."

Jarrod stood still while the doctor looked at his face and arms. "The buggy landed on my mother. I was thrown clear."

"You look fine, just some cuts and bruises," the doctor said, "but you'd better let me tend them after you get rid of your buggy."

"Get rid of it?" Jarrod asked. "Why?"

"I'll tell you more later, but right now you need to get it out of town, out of sight, out into the woods where no one will find it."

Jarrod wasn't about to do anything without more explanation than that. "Doctor, you've been very good to tend to my mother, but I've been as patient as I'm going to get. You tell what's going on around here, and tell me right now."

The doctor sighed, exasperated. "I will, but getting rid of that buggy has to come first. If it's seen – "

"By whom?" Jarrod interrupted. "There's no one around here but you!"

"There are often men around here, other than me," the doctor said. "You do not want them to know you're here. Go get rid of that buggy – take it out of town the way you came in and hide it in the woods, then come back and let me tend to you and I'll tell you everything. Now, go, there may not be much time."

Exasperated himself now, Jarrod got up and went outside to do as the doctor asked. The buggy was lighter than it was when he was carrying Victoria in it, but it was still heavy and awkward. He pulled it out of town, as the doctor told him to do. There was a sizeable wooded area not far, and Jarrod did his best to drag the buggy into the woods and out of sight. He just couldn't get it very far because of the undergrowth. He left it, came out of the wood and saw that it couldn't be seen from the road. He wondered about the tracks, but then he noticed rain moving in from the west. Satisfied what he'd done would have to be enough, Jarrod headed back to the doctor's office.

The doctor was waiting at the door and pulled him inside quickly. "All right, let me doctor that cut on your forehead and see whatever else you have."

"Let me look in on my mother first," Jarrod said.

"No," the doctor said. "I need to be sure you're all right before I move the two of you."

"Move us?" Jarrod asked. "Move us where?"

"Into the basement. You'll be safe there."

"We'll be feeding the rats there!" Jarrod protested. "I'm not taking my mother anywhere until you explain what's going on."

The doctor sighed. "Done In was practically a ghost town when Daniel Wright bought a ranch about ten miles west of here. The man comes from back east. He was done in by the war. He brought about a dozen men with him, and they moved in on us here one night about six months ago. Took almost everybody who was left here – which wasn't much. A saloon girl, a bartender, a couple leftover drunks, and the regular townspeople who were left – the dry goods storekeeper, the blacksmith. They took the families of the storekeeper and the sheriff too. Last week they finally took the storekeeper and the sheriff. He makes the people work for him."

Jarrod's mouth was open. "That's insane! This is California! We don't have slavery here! He couldn't possibly think he could get away with it for long!"

"Nobody said they were being legal about anything. Wright is a man who used to be rich and was used to getting what he wanted by charming it out of people or bullying it out of them."

"But how has he gotten away with it? Surely somebody had to have missed somebody and contacted the authorities."

The doctor shook his head. "Remember what I said, Mr. Barkley. They raided a near ghost town. There wasn't anybody here that anybody would miss."

"The sheriff?! The storekeeper?!"

"You're the first people who've come here since they were taken, and I haven't had anybody come to me."

"Still, for God's sake, man. This isn't the middle of nowhere. There are other ranches around, and the man would have to do business outside his ranch to keep it going."

"For all intents and purposes, Mr. Barkley, this IS the middle of nowhere. We're hilled in here, and Wright has made himself a fortress for a ranch. I've seen it. He sends men out for me when somebody needs tending, and I'm about the only one who goes in there. If he does business with anyone outside his ranch, he does it in Millertown. He's got his men riding herd on his slaves as bad as any bunch of overseers ever rode herd on slaves before the war."

Jarrod was still astonished, but he quit protesting that such a thing couldn't be happening in California, this long after the war was over. "Why didn't he haul you out here?"

"He left me and the sheriff and the storekeeper at first. Blane Henry, the storekeeper, was still getting goods in that Wright was buying, and Wright wanted to make Done In look like some kind of a town, I guess. He had both the men's families, so he figured they wouldn't do anything but go along. But the sheriff and Henry started putting together an idea about going for help, and Wright got wind of it. That's why he pulled them out of here. He's left me because there are a couple ranches in the other direction from town, and they need a doctor now and then. And he knows I'll keep my mouth shut and won't go anywhere."

"Why not? Why haven't you just left? Talked to the other ranchers in the area? Gone for help?"

Dr. Lane sighed. "I tried talking to the sheriff in Millertown when they dragged me in there for medical supplies, but he wouldn't believe me. I don't know if Wright has bought him off or he just doesn't want to go up against the man. It's the same thing with the doctor there. I don't have family Wright could hold, but he does have hostages out there, Mr. Barkley. People I knew and lived with. If I leave, they'll pay. Besides, Wright took all the horses, and that road you were traveling to get here is just a backwater shortcut from one place to another, hardly used. I'd have to make it all the way to Millertown on foot, and they'd find me before I did."

"Millertown's not even five miles away."

"Mr. Barkley, I'm not a young man!" Dr. Lane was getting impatient. "For all I know, Wright already knows you're here with your mother, and I'm taking a big chance just helping you! With the sheriff and Blane Henry gone, I've been expecting him to come and take me any second! Now just quit asking me questions and let me tend that cut of yours and get you and your mother stashed away!"

Jarrod sat down and let the doctor clean and doctor the cut on his forehead and a few other scrapes, but he said, "I'm not taking my mother into the basement, Doctor. Let me move her into the sheriff's apartment or someplace like that."

"Listen to me, Mr. Barkley," Dr. Lane said, finishing up with his doctoring. "If they find you, they will take you."

"We'd be missed," Jarrod said. "Our men are probably already out there looking for us."

"Then they might just kill you outright and get rid of your bodies and nobody would be the wiser."

Jarrod eyed the doctor, still suspicious about everything he was saying. It sounded too absurd to be real in modern day California. Maybe that was why he got no help from the sheriff in Millertown – the man thought Dr. Lane was crazy. "We'll take our chances," Jarrod said. "And when we get out of here, we'll take care of Mr. Wright's operation, too."

The doctor put his implements down and just stood there. "Then I'm cutting you loose, Mr. Barkley. You take your mother wherever you want. Just don't tell me where you go and don't get me involved in any other way."

The doctor walked right out, straight out into the street, leaving Jarrod sitting there. Jarrod gave a sigh. He got up, arguing with sore muscles that were just beginning to give him grief for all the dragging of the buggy he had done. For a moment, he wished he hadn't stashed that buggy and he considered going after it, but he knew that was a stupid idea. He could not pull his mother back over the hill and more miles to Millertown. They were here, until his brothers came looking for them.

Jarrod thought about them. Nick and Heath would be getting nervous by now, and Nick knew they were using the short cut he recommended. And they'd track –

No, they wouldn't. The rain started. Jarrod could hear it on the roof. If he was going to move his mother to somewhere other than the doctor's basement, he was going to have to do it fast.

Jarrod ran into the treatment room, where Victoria was asleep on the table. She woke up as he lifted her. "What? What's happening?"

"We have to move, Mother," Jarrod said. "Just cover your face. It's raining."

Jarrod took Victoria outside. The rain was just starting, and he was able to get her to the sheriff's quarters before it got heavy. He put her in the sheriff's abandoned bed and sat down in a chair beside it, breathing heavily, worried sick, aching all over now.

"Jarrod, what is going on?" Victoria asked, rising up on one elbow.

Jarrod gently pushed her shoulder back down. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Just believe we might be in danger here, and we have no way of getting out, so we're just going to have to hunker down until help comes."

Jarrod pulled out his handgun and checked to be sure it was loaded. It was, and he had more ammunition in his gun belt. He knew it would probably not be enough if they were found, but maybe they could hold out here long enough to be found by the right people.

Jarrod got up, closed the bedroom door, and took the chair again.

Victoria was staring hard at him. "Start explaining, Jarrod."

Jarrod took a deep breath, and began to tell her what Dr. Lane had told him. When he was finished, his mother took on a disgusted and astonished face. "That can't possibly be true."

"That's what I keep thinking, Mother, but we're going to have to treat it like it is," Jarrod said. "Dr. Lane has left us to our own devices, at least until his conscience gets the better of him."

Victoria kept her eyes on her son. She could tell he was worried, but determined to hold out here. And protect her. She reached and squeezed his arm.

He had been looking toward the window, toward the lace curtain that would not hide them. He was wondering what to use for a better covering that would not look so bad it would attract attention. But when Victoria touched his arm, he looked at her, and he smiled. "Don't worry, Mother. Nick and Heath will be along before very long. Knowing them, they're already worried and on the road."

"But then they'll ride into this, too," Victoria said.

Jarrod nodded. "But they'll be expecting some kind of trouble. They'll be careful."

Victoria tried looking toward the window. Because it was raining, it was impossible to see how dark it really was. "What time is it?"

Jarrod checked his watch. "Five in the afternoon. It'll still be light enough for them to see for a while, when the rain lets up."

"Do you think we should try to get out of here and back on the road?"

Jarrod shook his head. "We can't. There's not one horse here in town, and I can't pull what's left of that buggy anymore, especially not in the rain. You can't walk, and I can't carry you without making your leg worse. The best thing we can do is hunker down."

Victoria accepted that with a nod.

"Why don't you sleep some more?" Jarrod said. "You may need the rest before this night is over."

"You may as well," Victoria said.

Jarrod smiled. He got up and looked through one of the drawers in the dresser, coming up with a shirt he thought he could rig to look like a curtain over the window. He did that, hoping no one who might come by would see what it really was. It made the room much darker, but it would keep him and his mother out of sight, and for now there was still some light in the room. Jarrod wished he could light a lamp, but if Dr. Lane was right, that would be risky. Instead, he found a couple blankets. He rolled one up for a pillow, laid himself down on the floor beside the bed, and pulled the other blanket up over himself.

"I hope you can get up when you have to," Victoria said, understanding how sore he had to be from the wreck and from dragging her here.

"Don't you worry," Jarrod said. "I'm as limber as I was when I was twenty."

"I don't believe you," she said.

Jarrod chuckled a little. "I suppose we'll find out, won't we? Sleep some, Mother. I'll be right here."

Victoria sighed. She was tired. Her leg hurt and so did some bruise on her back. She really didn't want to sleep, but she drifted off despite herself.

Beside her, Jarrod tried to settle down, too, but half of his brain was still listening – for trouble, for help, for whatever might be out there as nighttime came on. In a while the rain let up and all he heard were insects chirping and the wind through the ill-fitting window. But he also fell asleep, despite himself.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The rain had stopped and there was still a little light left when Nick and Heath left Millertown. They determined that their mother and brother had not reached that town at all, so it seemed clear that something had happened to them between there and Palermo. Now Nick was wishing to high heaven that he had never recommended the short cut.

"Come on, Nick," Heath chastised him as the rode out of Millertown. "You and I have both taken this road before and had no trouble at all. Chances are they broke down or something and are either afoot or are just waiting for us to come get them."

"Yeah," Nick agreed. "They'd know we'd come after them when they didn't get home." He sounded like he was trying to talk himself into believing that.

"Sure they would," Heath said.

Nick kicked up the speed a little bit, and Heath followed. By the time they reached the fork where the road to Done In went off, the light was beginning to be difficult. Nick pulled up by the sign anyway. He turned his horse several times, looking both uphill toward Done In and along the flatter road toward Palermo. Heath stopped beside him.

"What do you think?" Nick asked. "Could they have gone toward Done In?"

"I've never been there. Is it the kind of place they'd go if they were having trouble?" Heath asked.

"I've never been there either." Nick frowned, looking further up the road toward Palermo.

Meanwhile, Heath got down to look for tracks, but, "The rain has made any tracks hard to read." Heath started up the hill toward Done In, but soon came back, shaking his head. "I'm not seeing any tracks up this way either. It was a pretty hard rain."

Nick said, "Let's keep going on the road to Palermo. If they had trouble before they got to this point, we might be able to find it. With any luck they'll be sitting there waiting for us."

"Not likely they'd have sat out in the rain," Heath said.

"Unless the rain was the reason they stopped. Come on."

Nick galloped on further up the road toward Palermo, and Heath remounted and followed along. The road was muddy and still there were no tracks to speak of. They had gone nearly two miles and Nick was almost ready to turn around and try for Done In when they spotted it – the wrecked luggage at the side of the road, and clothing scattered around in the mud.

They both dismounted and quickly looked through the debris. Nick picked up a shirt that was torn and missing some pieces. "This is Jarrod's. They're in trouble."

Heath found the wreckage Jarrod had torn off the buggy to make it lighter. He knew it for what it was. "Looks like the buggy wrecked. Do you think they turned back for Palermo?"

Nick shook his head. "They'd have gone for Millertown. It's closer."

"Well, they're not there so that leaves Done In."

They looked at each other, wondering what in the world could have happened and why the only evidence of whatever it was were pieces of the buggy and ruined luggage and clothing. Without a word, they remounted and headed for Done In.

XXXXXXX

Jarrod was only drifting in and out of sleep and after only a short while he woke up completely. He sat up, listening. He didn't hear a thing outside except for the insects.

He had a headache. Whether it was from hitting his head when he fell, or from stress, or from the hard floor or all three, he wasn't sure, but it didn't matter much. He sat up completely, leaning his back against the wall. His mother was snoring softly, so he was sure she was all right.

His mind wandered, off to what Dr. Lane had told him about this rancher named Wright and the little kingdom he had built for himself out here in the middle of nowhere. He still found it hard to believe that such a thing was happening in California. Isolated areas like this were rare these days, but nevertheless, Done In was here and lost to itself, so it was possible Wright could have built himself a fortress and surrounded himself with an army and no one would know. It just seemed ridiculous and very unlikely.

With a sigh, Jarrod gave up thinking about it. Instead, he thought about the food he should have secured before they fell asleep. There were probably some canned beans here in the sheriff's apartment, if nothing else. He hadn't even checked to see if the pump in the kitchen worked, but he'd have bet it did. He hadn't looked for an outhouse, but it was probably out there in the back. He wondered how he'd get his mother there when she needed it.

He heard horses. Alarmed, he got to his feet and unholstered his sidearm. He pulled the shirt-curtain aside slightly and looked out, but it was dark now, or at least too dark to see anything.

Victoria stirred. "Jarrod?"

"Sh – " Jarrod told her quietly. "I heard horses, at least two. You stay still here. I need to have a look out into the street."

"Jarrod, no – "

She was frightened. Jarrod gave her a kiss and a smile. "Don't worry. I'll be right back."

Jarrod went through the apartment and the jail office, then quietly opened the door and stepped outside. The sky had cleared and there was a partial moon. Jarrod stayed in the shadow of the jailhouse as he looked around, and he saw movement, off to his left near the doctor's office. There were two men dismounting from two horses there. They had tied the horses to a hitching rail and were going into the doctor's office, the only place in town with a light on.

Jarrod wondered what to do. He wondered who the two men were – were they Wright's men, as Dr. Lane expected? They could have been Nick and Heath, but Jarrod couldn't tell in the poor light. They could have even been strangers just passing through. Jarrod decided to stay where he was, wondering if the two men would find the doctor, or what they would do if they didn't. But it wasn't long before they came back out. If the doctor was in there, he wasn't giving them the time of day.

Jarrod inched through the shadows toward them as they unhitched their horses and started to mount. Then he heard a familiar voice. "Nick – " he said, still quiet, just in case he was wrong.

But the two men stopped and turned, looking. "Did you hear that?" one of them said to the other.

It was Nick's voice. Jarrod stepped out of the shadows and walked slowly toward them. "Nick, it's Jarrod."

The two men saw him then and came to him quickly. "We've been worried sick about you," Heath's voice said.

Jarrod never felt so relieved in his life as when his brothers stopped in front of him and Heath put a hand on his shoulder.

"What happened?" Nick asked.

"The buggy wrecked," Jarrod said. "Mother's injured. Come with me."

The three of them went back into the jail and then to the sheriff's apartment. Victoria was still on the bed, but she was up on her elbow again. She couldn't see who was coming in, and she took in a sharp breath when three shadows entered.

"It's me," Jarrod said. "Nick and Heath are here."

Nick went quickly to his mother, and she gave a sigh and a laugh as he hugged her. Heath came to the other side of the bed and hugged her at the same time. "Thank heaven you're here," she said.

Jarrod said, "She's got a broken leg and some bruising. I'm all right, just cuts and scrapes and bruises."

"How in the world did you get here?" Nick asked.

"I rigged up the buggy so I could pull it," Jarrod said. "You didn't happen to find our horse on the way here?"

"No," Heath said. "And I'll bet money there aren't any horses in this ghost town."

"No," Jarrod said. "There isn't anything else either, except for one doctor."

"We saw the light there, but a doctor?" Nick said. "What's a doctor doing here?"

Jarrod explained what the doctor had told him about Daniel Wright and the town of Done In. When he was finished, Nick and Heath looked at each other. Even in the darkness, they could see they were each confused.

"Jarrod, that doesn't make any sense," Heath said. "Nick and I did some business with Dan Wright not three months ago."

"There wasn't anything fishy about him at all," Nick said.

"Were you on his ranch?" Jarrod asked, remembering the doctor had said Wright tended to do his business off the ranch.

"Well, no," Nick said. "We were just buying a couple of yearlings. He met us with them in Millertown."

"I haven't been willing to take any chances that Dr. Lane is wrong about the man," Jarrod said. "We figured you'd be along, so we stayed here. No one else has been by."

"Maybe we can get out of here," Heath said. "I'm gonna go have a look at the livery stable. Maybe there's a wagon here we can hitch one of our horses to to carry mother and get on home."

"Be careful," Victoria said.

"Let me go with you," Nick said. "You best not be out there alone. Jarrod, you and Mother stay here and we'll be back in a few minutes, tops."

"All right," Jarrod said and let them go. It was dark and he could scarcely see Victoria, but he knew she'd be worried. He sat down on the bed next to her and held her hand. "I told you Nick and Heath would turn up. They'll get us out of here."

"I hope so," Victoria said. "I'll use the necessary when they get back, and then the faster we're out of here, the happier I'll be."

Jarrod leaned over and kissed her. "We'll check into this Wright fellow more after we get you home. If he's really running a ranch with slave help, he has to be stopped."

"I don't disagree with you," Victoria said, "but I still wonder if this Dr. Lane is telling us the truth. It just seems so implausible."

"I know," Jarrod said, "but it bears looking into. Once we get you home."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

It was practically impossible to see in the livery, so Nick opened the doors wide in the hopes that some of the moonlight would help. Heath found a buckboard. One horse could pull it, while he, Jarrod and Victoria rode in it. "Nick, give me a hand," he said.

He and Nick pushed the wagon out into the street and stopped right there in front of the livery. "Get your horse, Heath," Nick said. "He's stronger than Coco."

Before Heath could move, they heard horses approaching. Not sure what to do, they just stayed toward the rear of the wagon as three men rode into town. They stopped at the doctor's office, but they eyed Nick's and Heath's horses as they dismounted.

A man came out of the doctor's office, the doctor they hadn't seen, Nick and Heath figured. Two of the men talked to him in the street. The third man started toward the wagon. Nick and Heath took their guns out but kept them hidden from the newcomers.

The third man suddenly saw them and stopped. Exposed in the street, he didn't do anything except say, "Who are you?"

The other two men with the doctor heard him, and they came to join him.

Nick and Heath were stymied, unsure what to do. Nick ended up saying, "I'm Nick Barkley. This is my brother Heath. We lost a wagon a ways back toward Palermo and came looking for a replacement. Who are you?"

All three men stood beside one another. In the background, the doctor eased himself back into his office.

The newcomers looked at each other. "Stockton Barkleys?" one asked.

"That's right," Nick said. "I asked who you were."

"We work around here," the same man asked. "Came to fetch the doc out to our place. Man got hurt."

"We'll be on our way as soon as we hitch one of our horses up," Nick said.

"Those aren't draft horses," one of the other men said, looking back toward Nick's and Heath's horses.

"Lost our draft horse when we lost the wagon," Heath said. "Tongue broke and the horse took off. Our mounts were hitched to the back and we got lucky, they were left behind with the wagon."

Nick said, "We'll be on our way, if you don't mind."

Nick and Heath started pushing the wagon further out of the livery, still holding their guns ready but hidden.

Dr. Lane suddenly came out of his office, carrying his bag. "Let's go," he shouted.

The three men retreated to join him. Nick and Heath stopped and watched. The men had brought an extra horse, and they and the doctor mounted up. The doctor led the way quickly out of town. Nick and Heath got the distinct impression he was hurrying to defuse the situation and give the Barkleys time and room to get out of town unmolested.

Nick and Heath both sighed as they holstered their guns. "I'll hitch my horse up to the wagon," Heath said. "You get Mother and Jarrod ready to go."

Nick hurried back into the sheriff's office and found Jarrod helping their mother out the back door. "The necessary," Jarrod said.

Nick immediately came and helped the two of them. Victoria was able to take care of her own needs so long as Jarrod and Nick got her to and from the outhouse. Jarrod took care of himself, and it wasn't long before he and Nick were helping Victoria into the back of the wagon. Jarrod climbed into the back with her as Nick mounted Coco, saying, "Let's get out of here fast."

Heath slapped the reins, and Heath's horse started pulling as best he was able. Once they were over the hill and turning onto the road to Millertown, the horse was not laboring as much and they were all breathing easier, except for Victoria. The bumping of the road was sending stabs of pain through her leg and back. "Millertown isn't far, Mother," Jarrod said. "We'll be all right there."

"I'd rather keep going home," Victoria said.

"Let's see how things are in Millertown."

They kept going at a fairly good clip and were feeling pretty relieved, until they came to a bend in the road about a mile outside Millertown. There were two men in the road. It was hard to tell for sure in the dark, but it looked like two of the men who had been in Done In. Nick slowed down, and Heath did the same. The road was blocked.

"What's the problem?" Nick asked. "Let us through."

"We need to talk first," one of the men said. They both came closer to Nick, flanking him.

Heath and Jarrod both slipped their hands down to their sidearms, and Jarrod carefully put his body overtop his mother's, protecting her in case trouble was coming.

"Listen, we need to be moving," Nick said. "We've got our injured mother here with us."

"Yeah, so the doc said," the man closest to Nick said. "We think you're better off coming with us."

"Millertown is the closest help," Nick said. "Thanks for your offer, but we'll head there."

The man who had been doing the talking started reaching for his handgun.

Nick abruptly yelled and kicked Coco into gear. Heath got the message and also yelled, slapping the reins hard. Before the two men got their guns out, Nick and Heath had blasted through them and were flying down the road.

Jarrod kept his mother covered with his own body, but turned when he started hearing gunfire. He could see the flashes from the guns of the two men chasing them, and while Nick and Heath concentrated on getting them to Millertown fast, Jarrod drew his gun and fired back. Nobody was hitting anything. Jarrod ran out of ammunition at about the same time as the two men apparently did, but they seemed to have stopped to reload. Jarrod had to try to reload on the move, and the rough ride and trying to hold on was making it too hard. He was bouncing around and had to let go his grip from the wagon to use both hands. He quickly gave it up. "I'm taking your gun!" he yelled to Heath, and he reached up and took Heath's gun out of the holster at his side.

By then the two men were catching up to them again and firing. Nick abruptly pulled Coco aside and let Heath pass on. Nick turned and tried to hold the two men off. Jarrod could only see flashes from handguns and had to stop firing for fear of hitting Nick, not knowing which one was him, but Jarrod kept shielding Victoria with his body, holding onto the wagon tight now with both hands.

Lights of town came into view, and Heath slapped his horse into a faster gallop. They roared into town to the liveliest place Heath saw – the saloon – and he pulled to a sliding halt there. Jarrod held on tight, trying not to get thrown out of the wagon, keeping his mother covered and making sure she wasn't hurt in the screaming stop either. Jarrod whacked his head on the back of the bench when he was thrown forward by momentum as Heath stopped. Dizzy, he dropped Heath's gun and rolled over, off his mother.

Heath could see his gun that Jarrod had dropped. He grabbed it and jumped down from the wagon, then ran back up the road to try to help Nick. But Nick came blasting in before Heath got ten feet, and he was alone. Whoever the men were who had been chasing them did not come into town.

Nick jumped down off Coco beside Heath. "I think we're clear. Is everybody all right?"

"I think so," Heath said.

They hurried back to the wagon. Jarrod was lying beside his mother now, groaning. Victoria was calling, "Nick! Heath!"

"Are you all right, Mother?" Nick asked.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she said.

"Jarrod?" Heath asked, reaching for his older brother.

Jarrod moaned and grabbed his head as he sat up. His hand came away with blood. "Oh, hit my head again," he moaned, knowing he had a new gash to add to the old one.

Heath grabbed Jarrod's fallen gun out of the wagon bed and lent him an arm. "Come on, get down if you can."

People were starting to come out of the saloon, and a man who looked to be the sheriff ran up. "What's going on?"

Nick said, "We were ambushed back up the road. Our mother was already injured – looks like our brother took a conk on the head."

Jarrod was on his feet, leaning back against the wagon, looking at his bloody hand. Heath had hold of him. "Do you have a doctor here?" he asked.

The sheriff pointed across the street and said, "Bring your people over. I'll get him up."

XXXXXXX

Victoria did not have any additional injuries, but her back and her leg were hurting terribly. The doctor settled her into his recovery room with some pain killer, then doctored the new bang on the head Jarrod had suffered. He made Jarrod walk across the treatment room and back again before he said, "You be sure to tell me or whatever doctor is around if you have any dizziness."

Jarrod nodded. "I'm fine. Thank you, doctor."

Jarrod went back out into the waiting area, where Nick and Heath were talking to the sheriff. Nick was complaining, "If they're so innocent and 'all right,' then why did they ambush us in the road just now?!"

The sheriff said, "How do you know they were the same men? You couldn't see who they were."

"I saw enough," Nick said. "They were the same men. The third one of them took the doctor out of Done In and these two were sent to round us up before we got here!"

Jarrod put a hand on Nick's arm. "Nick, quiet down. The doctor gave Mother something to ease the pain and help her sleep. You're just giving her a headache and keeping her awake."

The sheriff looked at Jarrod. "Your brothers have just spun me a tale about Dan Wright keeping slaves to help run his property and sending men out to round you up and haul you back there before you could talk. Now, I'm not blowing you off completely, because it's a tale I've heard before, but Doc Lane in Done In is always the one starting it, and frankly, his word is the only evidence I've ever gotten that the tale is true – and if you've talked to the old man, you know he ain't the man he used to be."

Jarrod said, "Maybe he's a bit over the top, but he took care of my mother and me all right."

"Believe me," the sheriff said, "being out there in that town that's practically abandoned has worn on him."

Jarrod tried to resist rubbing the aching spot on his head, even though he now sported a small bandage, as he frowned and asked, "What about the sheriff in Done In? Have you talked to him?"

"More than once," the sheriff said.

"Has he backed up Dr. Lane's story?"

"No."

"Have you tried to talk to him in the last week?"

"Can't say I have."

Jarrod took a deep breath to chase off the headache. "The sheriff and the shopkeeper named Henry were taken off last week. Dr. Lane said they were trying to hatch a plan to get away, so Wright had them taken. I think you better go looking into what Dr. Lane says more seriously."

"What else you got that the sheriff and Henry are gone?"

"The food the sheriff left behind that's gone moldy," Jarrod said. "Look, Sheriff, if they came after us, they're probably figuring Dr. Lane talked to us, and now he's in trouble. You need to round up a posse and check this out now."

The sheriff looked like he was trying to decide what to do. "I know Dan Wright," he finally said. "You two, you two Barkleys," he said, pointing to Nick and Heath, "I saw you with him here in Millertown a couple months ago, doing business with him."

"We've never been to his ranch, Sheriff," Heath said. "We got no idea what's going on there."

"Just check it out," Jarrod said, finally rubbing the sore spot on his head.

"I'll see about this in the morning," the sheriff said. "I suggest the three of you get a hotel room and sleep some. Things might take on a different picture once you get some shut-eye."

The sheriff just walked out then, leaving Nick huffing angrily, Heath exasperated, and Jarrod about to drop from fatigue.

"How is Mother?" Heath asked Jarrod.

"She's all right," Jarrod said. "The doctor will keep her here for the night, and regardless of whatever else happens, we need to get her home tomorrow."

"We've already taken the wagon and horses to the livery. Let's find the hotel and get some sleep," Heath said. Then he saw Nick's unhappy face. "Nick, the sheriff's not gonna do a thing tonight, and we sure can't do anything on our own."

"Heath's right," Jarrod said. "We need to sleep."

Nick finally nodded. "The hotel is a block or so away. Let's go."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Audra stood in the stable yard, looking out at the dark road, waiting anxiously for her mother and brothers to return, but they weren't coming. The men milling around and finishing their chores for the day could easily see how worried she was, but nobody knew what to say. Audra just kept trying to think of what to do. They should all be back here by now. Should she send someone else out after them? Should she just wait until morning? Should she talk to McCall and she what he thought?

McCall read her mind and finally came up beside her. "Miss Audra, you'd best get some sleep."

"I'm not sure I can, Mac," Audra said. "They should be here by now."

"That rain may have forced them to get some shelter," McCall said.

"Maybe," Audra said. "Do you think we should send someone out after them tonight?"

"Do you?" McCall asked.

Audra hesitated. It was rare for McCall, or anyone, to ask her a question like that. "Do you think it would be dangerous to send someone?"

McCall said, "Well, I could send three men out as far as Millertown. If they don't find them by there, they can camp for the night and start looking again in the morning."

Audra nodded, satisfied that was the wisest thing to do. "Yes. Thank you, Mac."

McCall smiled. "I'll get them going."

XXXXX

The three men McCall had appointed – Ewell, Perkins and Sloan – rode into Millertown in the middle of the night. Everything was quiet, even the saloon, and as they sat there alone in the street, they looked at each other and remembered McCall's instructions. "We can set up camp right outside of town," Sloan suggested. "And check with the sheriff first thing in the morning."

The other two nodded agreement, and they rode back out of town together, unaware Nick was looking out the window of his hotel room, watching them. He couldn't see who they were, and so he suspected they were Wright's men, but when they turned and left, Nick climbed back into bed.

He hadn't slept at all, even though Jarrod was snoring softly in the bed next to his. Nick was feeling the weight of responsibility for dealing with this. Not that Jarrod was hurt all that bad, but he'd gotten knocked in the head twice, and he'd been carrying the weight ever since the buggy accident. Nick figured that regardless of what he and Heath decided to do, Jarrod should go home with their mother in the morning.

Nick lay there and stared at the ceiling, or at least into the darkness where the ceiling was. He thought back on the time he and Heath met with Wright, and he couldn't make sense of what Jarrod had said about the man. Either Jarrod was wrong, or the doctor in Done In was wrong, or Wright was one heck of a good liar. Right now, Nick couldn't convince himself which was accurate. He sighed and turned over to face the wall. In a while, he did fall asleep, but he kept waking up every half hour or so. When morning light began to creep in, he woke up completely.

Jarrod stirred not long after Nick sat up and began to get himself together for the day. "Morning," Jarrod mumbled through a dry mouth.

"I've thought about things, Jarrod," Nick said. "I want you to take Mother home today."

"Nick – " Jarrod started.

"No arguments. You're going with Mother."

Jarrod didn't argue, not yet anyway. "Are you and Heath coming with us?" Jarrod asked.

"I don't know yet," Nick said. "We might just go pay Dan Wright a visit."

"No," Jarrod said flatly. "Not alone. You need at least two more men with you, and you may very well need a lawyer."

There it was, the argument Nick thought would have come right away. "Jarrod, you've taken two knocks on the head."

"Neither of them very hard. Not even one black eye. Let's go home together, then all three of us can come back with more men," Jarrod said, and he sat up on the edge of his bed.

"Better see if you're up to that," Nick said.

Jarrod yawned. "I'm up to it. Not even a headache this morning."

"I wonder how Mother is."

"Knowing our Mother, she's trying to get up and walk out of that doctor's office on her own. I'll get myself together and get on over there. You and Heath get yourselves together, and then we'll see if she's ready to travel. Okay?"

Nick grunted an agreement.

"And just one other thing, Nick," Jarrod asked.

"What?"

"Once you come back with more men, what do you plan to do? Invade Wright's ranch?"

Nick could hear his older brother, the lawyer, talking. He knew he had to come up with a decent answer. "What with that ambush last night. I'll talk the sheriff of this town into going out there with us to check it out today. With us along to back him up, he might be ready to do that."

"If he's not?"

"What do you think I should do, Jarrod? Forget it?"

Jarrod sighed. "No." He gave it some thought himself. "I know the DA in this county. If the sheriff won't go with us, I can talk to him and get an investigation going. The trouble is, it'll take a lot longer than if the sheriff goes with us."

"Well, then, we better get the sheriff to go with us today, and you – " Nick pointed at him for emphasis. "We aren't gonna need a lawyer today. You're taking Mother home."

"And if we get ambushed again?" Jarrod asked.

Nick sighed. He actually had thought about that, but he didn't think it would happen in the daylight. But was he willing to bet the lives of his mother and brother on it?

Jarrod saw Nick's hesitation and let it be enough for the time being. He got up and headed out the door to the wc.

XXXXXX

Jarrod was up, dressed and heading for the doctor's office before his brothers were ready to eat some breakfast, but on his way over there, Jarrod spotted the three Barkley ranch hands coming out of the sheriff's office. Jarrod detoured over there, yelling, "Perkins! Ewell! Sloan!"

The three men spotted him, and they met just outside the sheriff's office.

"We were just coming to get you," Sloan said. "The sheriff told us what happened."

"Nick and Heath are still at the hotel," Jarrod said, "rooms 3 and 4. I'm headed to check on our mother. Why don't all of you get something to eat and I'll meet you at the café after I see how Mother is?"

The men nodded and headed for the hotel, while Jarrod went on to the doctor's office. He wasn't sure he wasn't going there too early, but he took a chance. The doctor's door was unlocked, and Jarrod went in.

"Doctor?" he asked quietly.

The doctor came in from his treatment room and motioned Jarrod to the recovery room. "She woke up a little while ago. I think she wants out of here."

Jarrod smiled. Obviously, Victoria was feeling better.

"Oh, Jarrod!" she said and reached for him as he came into the recovery room.

Jarrod took her hand. "Feeling better, Mother?"

"Much," she said. "Please get me out of here and take me home."

Jarrod looked at the doctor, who nodded. "As long as you take her home flat in that wagon you came in on and take it easy. See your family doctor as soon as you get home."

Jarrod nodded. "Nick and Heath are still getting ready, and I just ran into three of our hands out in the street, come looking for us."

Victoria looked uneasy. "You're going to see this Wright fellow, aren't you?"

"We'll have to do something about him, Mother. I'm not sure when. The only thing I'm sure of is that we will get you home today."

Victoria sighed and smiled. "I'll take my victories where I can find them."

XXXXX

Nick answered the knock on his door, expecting Heath, but finding Sloan, Ewell and Perkins. He was surprised but, "I am glad to see you fellows."

Heath came up behind them, saying, "Looks like we got some of that army we need, Nick."

"What army?" Ewell asked.

"Let's get some food and talk about it," Nick said.

They were getting settled in the café when Jarrod came back and sat down with them. "Mother is ready to go as soon as I get her some food," he said.

"Good," Nick said. "Now, all we have to decide is what we do now."

"Go ahead, Nick," Jarrod said. "Tell me what you want to do."

Nick was a little surprised Jarrod was letting him talk first, but he took advantage of it. "If we send Ewell home with you and Mother, Jarrod, the rest of us can talk to the sheriff and see if we can get him to go visit Wright with us."

"Visit who?" Sloan asked.

Nick took the time to explain about Wright and his outfit while they ordered breakfast and ate. Nick was somewhat astonished that Jarrod wasn't protesting about going home and not being in on the action at Wright's, but he figured the argument was yet to come, any minute now.

When Nick was finished, Heath said, "What if we can't get the sheriff to go with us?"

"Then we all go home and Jarrod gets in touch with his DA friend in this county," Nick said.

"We could just go ourselves," Sloan said.

Nick shook his head. "If that man's got an army, four of us aren't gonna have much of a chance with him, and knowing my lawyer brother here, he's gonna insist we have the law with us."

"Without some kind of law, you're not gonna have any chance," Jarrod said. "Wright can just tell you to get lost, and you'd have no choice but get out or get shot for trespassing."

Nick said, "The sheriff will go with us. When we file a complaint, he'll have to."

Heath heaved a sigh. "All right, but let's talk to the sheriff before we send Mother on her way home, 'cause if we can't get the sheriff with us, we'll all be going home anyway."

Nods went around the table, but Nick didn't look happy about it.

Jarrod finished his food fast and called the waitress over. "I want an order of eggs and toast and coffee to take to the doctor's office," he told her.

She nodded and went after it. Jarrod finished his coffee and left the other men finishing up when the food for Victoria came.

Nick watched him head out the door. "Jarrod needs to go home with Mother, Heath," Nick said quietly.

"We could send Perkins and Ewell with Mother, and take Jarrod and Sloan with us."

Nick eyed him. "If Wright gives us trouble, do we need all three of us getting shot up out there?"

"We've risked that before, Nick," Heath said. "If Jarrod wants to stay with us, I think we ought to let him."

Sloan, Perkins and Ewell stayed out the discussion, knowing better than to get in on family issues, but Nick eyed them anyway, and he asked. "What do you think?"

Sloan looked at the other two and then sighed. "I think that decision's up to you and your brothers," he said.

"And Mother," Heath offered.

Nick looked unhappy about that.

Heath shrugged. "If she wants one of us with her, we're arguing over nothing. Since you and I got the best look at Wright's men, we should stay and Jarrod should go. If she doesn't care who takes her home and Jarrod wants to stay, then I think we should let him."

Nick had to admit, Heath's idea was a fair compromise between him wanting Jarrod to go and Jarrod wanting to stay. "All right. We'll see if Jarrod will go for it. First things first, though. Let's go see the sheriff."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The sheriff kept shaking his head. "You can't be sure it was Wright's men who came to Done In or ambushed you," he said after hearing Nick's and Heath's reasons for wanting to file a complaint.

"If we go out there, we can find out for sure," Nick tried.

The sheriff shook his head again. "Wright doesn't bother me. I don't bother him. He's brought some business to this town and unless you can give me more than you got, I'm not going to bother him."

Nick was nearly shooting flames out his nostrils. Heath, always more calm than Nick, said, "Sheriff, my brother Jarrod is a lawyer, and he knows the DA in this county. If you're not gonna help us, he's gonna go to that DA."

"And they'll start a more formal investigation," Nick said.

The sheriff looked put off a bit, but then he said, "All right, I'll take you out there, but if Wright won't let us on the property, I'm not gonna force it. I'd have to get a warrant from the judge, and he's not gonna give me one just on what you've told me so far."

Nick's fire eased off a little bit, but no sooner had the sheriff gotten his words out than the door opened and a man came in. He had a big smile on his face, and offered a hand to Nick. "Hello, Nick," he said. "Heath. I just came into town to go to the bank and I hear there's a big hubbub about me and my boys."

Stunned, Nick shook the man's hand, and Heath did too. Nick said nothing. Heath said, "Hello, Dan."

"Yeah, there's a hubbub," Nick said as the sheriff, relieved, sat down on the edge of his desk. "Our mother and brother were in a buggy accident, made it as far as Done In where we found them last night. Some of your men came into town and fetched the doctor away. As Heath and I were leaving with our mother and brother, we were ambushed by a couple of those same men."

"My men?" Dan Wright said in surprise. "I don't think so, Nick. Yeah, I had some of my boys fetch the doctor last night, but they brought him to my place and stayed there. If somebody attacked you, it wasn't my boys."

Nick still glared at the man.

The sheriff said, "Doc Lane has been spinning his tale again."

Wright laughed. "Not again. Nick, Heath, you've done business with me. Can you honestly think I'd be keeping anybody out at my ranch against their will?"

"Why don't we go see?" Nick asked, and he made sure Wright knew it was not a friendly suggestion but a direct threat.

Wright lost a little of his jolliness as he stared at Nick. "Nick, I resent the implication."

Heath broke in. "Dan, do you have any idea where the sheriff of Done In has gone?"

Wright smiled again. "I do. He's come to work for me. There wasn't any call for his services in a ghost town. He and the shopkeeper came to work for me last week. Their families are with me, too. Sheriff, this is all just a misunderstanding. You know Doc Lane hasn't got all his marbles anymore."

"Then you shouldn't mind us paying you a visit," Nick said.

Wright lost his jolliness again, and slowly said, "All right, but not today. I got apple harvest finishing up. Tomorrow, afternoon. Come on up tomorrow afternoon, I'm on the road east of Done In about ten miles. You can see whatever you want to see."

The glaring between Nick and Wright continued as the sheriff said, "Sounds more than fair to me, Mr. Barkley. You get your mother home, and you come on back up and meet me here tomorrow. We'll go on out there together."

"I'll want to bring a few men with me, Sheriff," Nick said.

"Well, now, that's fine, but let's not make it an army," Wright said. "I'd hate for us to get off on the wrong foot, and you're just not gonna need a lot of protection from me. Make it five men or so. How's that, Sheriff?"

The sheriff got up. "That sounds fair to me."

Nick said, "I'll want to see your men, to see if the ones who ambushed us are there."

Wright nodded. "Sure. We'll have this all cleared up by tomorrow evening. I'll see you tomorrow."

Wright tipped his hat and left. Nick's nostrils were flaring again, and Heath was none too happy with what just happened either. But at least what was going to happen today was settled. Heath said, "Come on, Nick. We best get Mother home and see she's safely out of here."

Nick grunted, and the Barkley men left. Out in the street, they saw Wright riding out of town, alone. Nick glared after him.

Heath took his brother's arm. "Let him go, Nick. Confronting him out there today isn't gonna get us anywhere. Let's get home, and you and me and Jarrod and a couple others can come back up here tomorrow."

"He's gonna hide whatever we want to see at his place, Heath," Nick said, still glaring after Wright.

"Maybe," Heath said. "But if he really has a lot of people living like slaves out there, he's gonna have a hard time doing it."

Nick finally grunted an agreement.

Heath looked down toward the doctor's office and saw Jarrod and the doctor helping Victoria into the back of the wagon. Heath gave Nick a slap on the back. "Come on. Let's go home."

When they reached the wagon, they noticed that Jarrod saw them watching Wright as he rode away. "Who was that?" Jarrod asked.

"That's Dan Wright," Nick said. "We're all going to take Mother home and be back up here tomorrow afternoon to go pay him a visit."

Jarrod raised an eyebrow. "He went for that?"

"If he's got something bad going on out there, you can bet he'll clean it up by tomorrow," Nick said.

"I think you better keep the local DA in your back pocket, Jarrod," Heath said.

Jarrod nodded.

XXXXXX

Before they got very close to home, Nick sent Sloan off to Stockton to bring the doctor out to the house. When they pulled into the stable yard, Audra came running out of the house and straight up to the wagon. "Mother! I've been so worried! What happened?"

Victoria sat up, with Jarrod's assistance, and Jarrod and Nick began to help her out of the back of the wagon. "The buggy lost a wheel and landed on my leg," Victoria said. "Jarrod got me to a doctor, so it's splinted, but Dr. Merar is coming out to look at it."

Nick and Jarrod got Victoria out of the wagon, and the two of them carried her inside. "Audra, will you help get mother into some clean clothes and into bed?" Nick asked.

"Of course," Audra said and followed her brothers upstairs.

Heath left the wagon and horses in the care of Ciego and the two men who came home with them. Perkins said, "You gonna want us to go with you tomorrow?"

"I'll talk to Nick and let you know," Heath said. "Thanks for coming after us yesterday."

"Sure, boss," Ewell said, and he and Perkins began to unhitch the wagon.

Heath went inside the house and headed straight for a glass of whiskey. Driving the rig as slowly as he had driven it made some muscles ache unexpectedly. Nick didn't have that excuse when he came downstairs and headed for the whiskey, too.

"Jarrod's gonna help Audra with Mother," Nick said as Heath handed him a glass of whiskey and began to pour another for himself. "Gotta say one thing about that Mother of ours. She is downright sturdy."

Heath smiled. "You do have to go some to bring her down. Who do you want to take back up to Millertown with us tomorrow, Nick?"

"Let's decide after the doctor takes a look at Jarrod and says he's all right to head out again."

"Jarrod won't be sitting around here, no matter what the doctor says."

"Mother will see that he does if the doctor says he has to sit this one out. I think he's all right, though." Then Nick turned pensive. "What do you think, Heath? Is Dan Wright running a slave plantation out there, or is this Dr. Lane imagining things?"

"I don't know. If you'd asked me when we saw him about those horses a few months ago, I'd have said Doc Lane was flat out wrong, but after getting ambushed last night – are you sure those men who hit us were the same ones who came for the doc?"

"No," Nick admitted, "and even if Wright parades them in front of me, I doubt I'll be able to be sure. I was just blustering to try to get the sheriff to go with us."

"Didn't work real well, did it?"

"No. I just wonder what's gonna happen when we go out there and Wright has all his workers hidden away."

Heath sat down in one of the armchairs, while Nick stood with his arm draped across the mantle at the fireplace. "You know, Nick – one thing about slaves. They get cowered, because they know as soon as the strangers are gone, the massa can have them beaten if they slip up in any way."

"I know," Nick said. He remembered the war, the slaves who came fleeing to the Union army camps for safety and freedom. He remembered a lot of scars, and a lot of fear. "I just can't believe Wright is bringing that to California, especially not this long after the war."

"From what I hear from some of the negro hands we've had around, there's a whole lot about the South that hasn't changed much. They'll still lock a negro up if he doesn't have a job and put him to work slaving for some planter again."

"I can't believe they're getting away with that."

"I can."

Nick looked around at him, eyebrows up.

"Come on, Nick," Heath said. "You know how cruel men can be to each other – especially white men against negroes. Especially powerful white men."

"That's what you thought about us when you first came here, isn't it?" Nick asked. "You thought we were like Dan Wright is supposed to be, shoving everybody around."

"Yeah, I did," Heath said. "But I figured out in a hurry that the Barkleys weren't that kind of people. Can't tell you how many I've run into that are, though."

"Well, if Dan Wright is one of them, he's gonna start to tremble once he finds out we know about it," Nick said. "It might take unleashing the legal wrath of our big brother on him, but he'll fall. I guarantee you, he'll fall."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Jarrod came downstairs after another few minutes and headed for the scotch, saying, "Audra is helping Mother finish getting into bed. The doctor's not here yet, huh?"

"Should be here any time," Nick said.

Jarrod took his scotch to the vacant armchair.

"Maybe you ought to wait to see the doctor before you start drinking," Nick said.

"Nick, I'm fine," Jarrod protested. "I never lost consciousness once. I don't have any nausea, no dizziness, and I know who everybody is. I didn't do any more damage hitting my head that you do running into one of those cabinet doors you're always leaving open."

"Then you'll go with us tomorrow," Heath said.

Jarrod nodded. "And if we don't get as far as I think we ought to get, I'll take off for Merced and see the DA as soon as we're done, so don't expect me to be coming home with you."

"You don't think we're gonna get anywhere with Wright," Nick said.

"I think he's gonna sweep what we want to see under the rug."

"You want us to go with you to see the DA?" Heath asked.

Jarrod shook his head and sipped his scotch. "I can handle it, and you two need to get back here and take care of this ranch. With any luck, I'll see the DA and get things rolling and be back the day after tomorrow. If he needs me longer, I'll wire."

"I don't know, Jarrod," Nick said. "I don't really like the idea of you being up there in this mess all by yourself."

"I won't be in any danger at the DA's office, and Wright will never know I'm there," Jarrod said.

"All right, then," Nick said, "as long as Doc Merar says you're all right."

Jarrod took a big, exasperated breath, but a knock came on the front door before he could say anything. Heath got up and headed for the door, thanking the Barkley gods for interrupting what might have turned into another disagreement between his older brothers.

"Doc, come on in," Heath said and let him in the door.

Dr. Merar came in. "I understand your mother came home with a broken leg. What happened?"

Nick and Jarrod came into the foyer from the living room. "A wheel came off the buggy and she got hurt when the buggy fell on her," Jarrod said.

Dr. Merar looked at the bandage on Jarrod's forehead. "Looks like you got hurt, too."

"Bumps and scrapes, but this is actually from a second bump on the head. Nothing major."

"Check him out anyway, Doc," Nick said. "We need to head out tomorrow. I want to be sure he's all right and I'm not taking his word for it."

Jarrod glowered while Dr. Merar chuckled. He looked Jarrod over right there in the foyer, checking out his eyes, looking at the lump on his forehead. "Any dizziness?"

"No," Jarrod said.

"Nausea?"

"Never," Jarrod repeated.

"Headaches?"

"None."

"What's my first name?"

"Thomas."

"What year is it?"

"1879."

"You look fine to me, Jarrod. Quit worrying about him, Nick. His head may not be as hard as yours, but he's not that delicate either."

Jarrod gave Nick an "I told you so" look before he said, "No one's head is as hard as Nick's. Mother's upstairs. I'm sure her leg is broken, but I don't know about anything else."

"Well, let's go see," Dr. Merar said and headed up the stairs.

Heath turned to his brothers and said, "I guess it's the three of us and a couple men tomorrow. Who do you want to take, Nick?"

Nick thought for a moment and said, "Why don't I check with McCall? He'll know who we need around here tomorrow and who he can spare."

Nick and Heath headed for the door. Left alone, Jarrod headed back to his "thinking chair" and his glass of scotch, and then he started considering what was going to happen tomorrow. He was certain he'd be heading for Merced and the DA, because Wright was not going to let them see anything fishy at his ranch. He decided that he'd better see Dr. Lane, too, to make sure the old man was all right and to get a better read on his story. He would do that after they saw Wright. Done In was not that big a detour from the route to Merced.

Of course, Nick would not like him doing that alone at all. He might even insist on going along, but something told Jarrod he'd be far better off going alone than with Nick and Heath as company. The three of them together might draw too much attention from Wright, if he saw them head for Done In. Jarrod figured if he pealed off alone, anybody Wright might send may be more likely to follow the herd of Barkleys and Barkley hands leaving, rather than follow one man going off in another direction.

Jarrod decided he'd give his brothers a detailed itinerary of his plans. That might suffice to quiet their worries, especially if they agreed one man was less worrisome to Wright than a whole herd of men. If anything happened to him while he was out there alone, they would know where he was. Satisfied he'd done enough thinking about it until he talked to Nick and Heath, Jarrod heaved a sigh, finished off his scotch and went in search of an apple or something. He was hungry.

Silas was in the kitchen, so busy cleaning in there that he hadn't heard people come home. "Mr. Jarrod! I didn't know you were back!"

"How are you, Silas?" Jarrod asked. "Better than us, I hope."

"What's happened?" Silas asked, and he noticed the small bandage on Jarrod's forehead. "Did you get hurt?"

Jarrod nodded. "The doctor is upstairs with Mother. She has a broken leg."

"Oh, my word!"

"Nothing to worry about. Everything's under control. But would you get some food together for her? She kept breakfast down just fine, but go easy on her for lunch, all right? And do we have an apple around here?"

Silas immediately fetched an apple from a bowl in the corner and gave it to him. "I'll make some good beef broth with a couple of carrots."

"Sounds good," Jarrod said. "I'll let you know what the doctor says when he comes down."

"I'll get some lunch ready for Miss Audra and you men, too."

"Silas, I do believe I love you," Jarrod said with a smile and went back into the living room.

Nick and Heath were coming back in through the front door when Jarrod sat down in his "thinking chair" and munched on his apple. They came to join him, Nick saying, "All right, we're taking Sloan and Ewell again tomorrow. We'll be ready to stay overnight in Millertown if need be."

"All right," Jarrod said, and he filled them in on his plans to see Dr. Lane before he went to see the DA in Merced.

Nick frowned. "I'm not much on the idea of you going into Done In alone."

"I don't think it'll be a problem, Nick," Jarrod said. "It will be in the daylight, and given that we're breathing down his neck, Wright won't try anything risky tomorrow, probably not even for some time to come. Besides, if he worries about anyone, it'll be the crowd, not one man."

Nick grumbled an agreement.

Jarrod nodded. "I'll either be home the day after tomorrow or I'll wire you. You'll know where I am."

"Wire us when you see the DA, too, Jarrod," Heath offered.

"All right. So we're agreed, we have plans," Jarrod said.

"You know," Heath said, "we're just assuming Wright will clean up his place and this trip out there tomorrow will be for nothing. But what if we do find something?"

Nick and Jarrod eyed him. Jarrod said, "Are you worried there might be a fight?"

Heath said, "I think we better consider it might happen."

"We'll go well armed," Nick said.

"With the sheriff and five of us," Heath said. "That still ain't much."

"What are you suggesting?" Jarrod asked.

"That maybe we ought to have some reserves waiting back behind the lines," Heath said.

Nick and Jarrod looked at each other. "How many, you think?" Nick asked.

Jarrod said, "From what Dr. Lane said, another five men might be enough."

"That leaves McCall a bit short handed," Nick said.

"Still, Heath has a point," Jarrod said. "We ought to be prepared for the unexpected to the extent we can, just in case."

"All right," Nick said with a sigh, and started for the front door. "I'll talk to McCall."

"I don't really think there will be a fight," Heath said, "but I got this itch."

"Yeah, you've given it to me, too," Jarrod said. "Got any other itches?"

"No," Heath said, shaking his head. "Do you think you'll be able to talk that DA into investigating Wright?"

"I don't know," Jarrod said. "That's why I want to get more from Dr. Lane. I'll do my best, though, with whatever I have."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Dr. Merar finally came downstairs, with Audra, after forty-five minutes or so. The men were still discussing plans for the next day, but they broke off and met the doctor in the foyer. Dr. Merar smiled. "She'll be fine. I'm not even certain her leg is broken, but we'll treat it as if it is."

"We told her it probably was broken," Audra said. "Otherwise she'd be up out of that bed tomorrow."

Dr. Merar gave a chuckle. "Try not to worry, boys. There's nothing major going on around here."

Audra walked the doctor to the door after they all bid him goodbye. Then she came back to join her brothers near the stairs. "What do you have planned for tomorrow? I'm suspecting you might be going back to Millertown."

Nick looked at his brothers. "Mother's rubbing off on her."

"We are going back," Jarrod said, "to check out this man named Wright."

"Is he responsible for Mother being injured?" Audra asked.

"No, but we've gotten wind of some illegal activities he might have going on up there," Jarrod said. "We're going to check it out tomorrow, and if we're not satisfied, I'll be heading off to meet with the county DA to see if I can get an investigation started."

"Nick and I will be home tomorrow night, maybe the morning after if we take so long we have to stay over," Heath said. "Jarrod will probably take a bit longer."

"I want to know exactly where you plan to be and when, because Mother will want to know," Audra said.

"Let's get some lunch and we'll talk," Nick said.

They sat down together and ate, and talked, and after the men explained everything they intended to do, Audra thought hard about it, staring at the table in front of her. The men looked at each other while she thought things through, and just as Jarrod was about to ask what she was thinking, she said, "I really don't like this. Does Mother know about your plans?"

"Most of them," Jarrod said. "I don't think she knows I'm going back to Done In."

"Well, you can tell her," Audra said. "I'm certainly not going to do it for you."

Audra threw her napkin down, got up and left the table. The men looked at each other, and Jarrod knew that since going to Done In was his idea, Nick and Heath were leaving it up to him to defend it. Jarrod left the table and went after Audra.

He caught up to her in the foyer. "Audra – "

She stopped and turned. "I don't like this, Jarrod. Going alone back to that town – " She just shook her head.

Jarrod took her by the shoulders. "I want to be sure I have the best information available when I see the DA. This is the best way to do it."

"You should take Nick and Heath with you."

Jarrod shook his head. "It'll be safer if I go alone while they take the attention away from me."

"You think. Jarrod, why is this your problem in the first place? Why are any of you going back up there at all?"

"Come sit down," Jarrod said and led her to the settee in the parlor. He took her hands, but at first he could not look at her. "I know you don't like it when we talk about the war, but you need to know about something both Nick and I experienced while we were back east fighting." He looked at her now. "Wherever we went, wherever there were Union troops, slaves came running to our camps, to get away from their enslavement. Over and over again we saw it, Audra. Men, women, even children, Audra. Running to us to save them. By the hundreds, Audra. Neither Nick nor I have ever forgotten it. If this man Wright has enslaved people again – if there's even an ounce of truth to what Dr. Lane told me – I have to do something about it. I'm sorry, honey, I can't explain it any better than that, and I'll go take Mother her lunch and explain it to her, too. None of this is on your shoulders."

"Waiting with Mother for you to come home is," Audra said.

Jarrod tried a smile. "We won't be long."

"No? What are you going to do if this DA asks for your help? You're going to stay and help him. That's the way you are, Jarrod."

Jarrod gave in with a nod. "You're right. I probably will. I'll have to, Audra. I can't let slavery get a foothold again. I can't let it happen. Surely you want better than that for the children involved."

He had hit her where she lived when he mentioned the children who might be victims of Wright. Audra bowed her head and nodded. "All right, Jarrod. You do whatever you need to do, but I do want you to explain it to Mother. She deserves to hear it from you."

Jarrod kissed her. "Of course she does."

XXXXXXX

Victoria had only one thing to say after Jarrod explained to her everything that had happened and was going to happen the next day and possibly the few days after – "Be very careful." Before they left for Millertown the next morning, the Barkley men made sure to kiss and comfort their mother and sister, and then they were off, with seven of the ranch hands in tow.

The sheriff of Millertown was not happy to see ten Barkley men instead of five, but Heath explained. "Only five of us are going in. The other five will stay back by a couple miles. They're only coming in case shooting breaks out."

The sheriff looked very unhappy anyway. "If shooting breaks out, you won't see me taking sides."

Nick was about to protest, but Jarrod put a hand against his chest. "Not a problem, Sheriff. We understand you're not out there to arrest anybody, just to ask some questions. Nobody's asking you to get shot for that."

As they left to go to the Wright property, Nick quietly asked Jarrod, "Are you going to tell the sheriff that you're going to Done In?"

"No," Jarrod said. "I don't want him deciding he should lock me up to stop me."

All ten of them, plus the sheriff, rode off toward the Wright ranch, raising a lot of eyebrows around Millertown as they did. As promised, about two miles from Wright's gate, five of the Barkley men dropped out with instructions to wait and only come if sent for, or if they heard a lot of gunfire. The Barkleys, Sloan, Ewell and the sheriff continued on and soon were riding up to the compound on the Wright property.

And it did look something like a fortified compound. There had been two men at the gate, and several men patrolled with rifles that they kept close as the newcomers dismounted in front of the house. Wright came out of the house, smiling again. The Barkleys looked around. "I don't see anybody who isn't carrying a rifle," Nick said quietly to his brothers.

"No slaves here," Heath said.

"They're under the rug," Jarrod said.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen," Wright said. "Welcome to my ranch. Why don't you tell me what you want to see, and I'll be happy to take you around."

The sheriff said, "You know what the rumors are, Dan. If you have any people here other than the ones I see right now, you'd better let us see them."

"Of course," Wright said. "Let's start in the house."

The men all went in together – and right off the bat, they saw something that they were half expecting was here but they figured Wright would hide away. There were two women in the house, older women plainly dressed who were cleaning in the big living room.

"Gentlemen, may I present Mrs. Henry and Mrs. Locklater," Wright said and the women stopped what they were doing. They just stood there. They did not smile. "Mrs. Henry is married to the former storekeeper in Done In, Blane Henry, and Mrs. Locklater is married to the former sheriff of Done In. Both men also work for me. They are out herding cattle at the moment."

The men all took their hats off to the ladies. Wright nodded to the women and they resumed their work.

Wright said, "I don't have anyone else working in the house right now except my manservant in the back, but I'll be happy to show you around anyway if you like, Sheriff."

The sheriff looked at the Barkley men. Jarrod immediately asked, "Where are the children?" and he watched the two women react to his question. Mrs. Locklater hesitated just a moment but then kept up her work.

"We do have five children with us here," Wright said. "Mrs. Henry's two and Mrs. Locklater's three. Right now I suspect they're out picking vegetables for our supper. They take their classes in the morning."

"The three Rs, I take it," Jarrod said. "Who teaches them?"

"One of the ladies who used to work in the saloon in Done In is quite literate, Mr. Barkley," Wright said. "She teaches them every morning. The vegetable garden is just a bit out back. Would you like to see the children?"

"Yes," Nick said quickly.

Wright nodded and led them through the house. Jarrod brought up the rear of the entourage, purposely because he wanted to give another look to Mrs. Henry and Mrs. Locklater. Mrs. Locklater hesitated in her work and looked up at him before she went back to it. Jarrod was pretty sure he understood what she was trying to tell him.

They went out through the kitchen, where a black man was getting ready to make dinner. "This is David, a servant I brought with me from back east," Wright said. "David is the best cook west of the Mississippi."

Wright kept on walking straight out the back door. David did not even look up from his work. All three Barkley men looked at each other, knowing full well that a free man, like Silas, would have looked up and nodded a greeting.

Wright led the group out back and about a hundred feet away from the house. They saw a large vegetable garden there, and there were five children picking vegetables, as Wright said there would be. There was one man watching over them, just moving among them, watching. "Hello, children!" Wright called.

They all stopped for a moment, looked up, and then went back to work.

Jarrod took a huge breath. Despite Wright's attempt to make everything look normal, it was not looking normal. The women, David, the children – none of them had even smiled or acknowledged the visitors in any way. "Where are the other people from Done In?" Jarrod asked.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

" _Where are the other people from Done In?" Jarrod asked._

Wright smiled. "You mean the drifters and drunks. The drunks – it took a while to clean them up, but they're all out riding herd now. So are the drifters we hired. The girl who teaches the children, she also milks the dairy cows three times a day. I suspect that's where she is."

"Who picked the apples yesterday?" Heath asked.

"Migrants, mostly," Wright said. "They finished and moved on last night."

The sheriff turned and looked at the Barkleys. "What else do you want to see?"

"The men riding herd, and I want to talk to Mrs. Locklater," Jarrod said quickly.

Wright hesitated, but just for a split second. "Of course," he said.

Jarrod would have preferred to talk to the woman alone, but as they went back into the house, he decided it might make Wright dangerously uncomfortable, and it wasn't really necessary anyway. He would be able to understand what he wanted to understand even if everyone were watching. They went back into the living room, where the women were still working.

"Hattie?" Wright said to the women.

They both looked up.

"Mr. Barkley has a few questions," Wright said.

Mrs. Locklater looked wary, but she stopped working and came closer to them. She was fingering her dust cloth nervously.

"Feel free to tell him anything you want," Wright said.

Jarrod smiled to try to ease the woman's concern, but he could tell she was out and out afraid. Jarrod tipped his hat again. "Mrs. Locklater, when did you come to work here?"

"A while back, I'm not sure how long," she said quietly.

"Why did you leave Done In and come here?" Jarrod asked.

She looked at Wright, then back at Jarrod. "My husband was sheriff over there. He decided I should work here to earn us more money."

"You brought your children with you?"

"Yes. We all live here now."

"Do you know where your children are now?"

"The kids are picking vegetables."

"Mrs. Loclater, do you feel free to go with your family if you want?"

The directness of the question put everyone on edge. Mrs. Locklater looked at Wright before she said, "Of course," very quietly, then looked back at Jarrod, her eyes cast slightly downward.

Jarrod decided he had to let her go now. Besides, he understood what she was really saying. "Thank you, Mrs. Locklater," he said, tipping his hat again, and then he said to Wright, "I'd like to see where you have your people living."

Wright smiled. "Of course."

Wright took them out the front door and across the compound to a group of small cabins not far from the stables. There was also a larger bunkhouse there.

"The single men stay in the bunk house," Wright said as they passed it. Then he stopped in front of the cabins. "We only have the two families here, the Henrys and the Locklaters. They each have a cabin of their own and so does the only single lady we have."

"May we look inside?" Heath asked.

"Well, I think you'd have to get permission from Mr. Henry and Mr. Locklater – I don't like to threaten their privacy."

Jarrod suspected that was a lie.

Wright said, "But you can take a look inside one of the empty cabins."

They did that. It was not much more than a line shack on Barkley property would be, but it did have a wood floor, a stove and a sink, a table and chairs, and bunk beds. Nick took a peek into a separate room, which held another bed and two dressers. When he came back out, Nick eyed his brothers. This place was modest, to be kind about it. To be honest, it wasn't much more than the slave cabins he and Jarrod had seen in the South.

"What else can I show you gentlemen?" Wright asked.

Heath noticed something outside the open door. Two men with rifles had followed them here.

"The men riding herd," Jarrod said.

Wright nodded. "Mount up and let's go."

It took fifteen minutes or so to find the herd and the men working it. Right away, the Barkley men saw that there were two men with rifles riding around the edge of the herd while several other men tended it. The Barkley men looked at each other.

"Did you want to talk to any of my men, Sheriff?" Wright asked.

The sheriff looked Jarrod's way. Jarrod said, "I don't think that's necessary. I think we've seen what we needed to see."

"I think that ought to do it then," the sheriff said. Then he looked at the Barkleys. "Don't you?"

The Barkley men looked at each other. Jarrod nodded. "I think we can be on our way."

They returned to their horses, mounted up and rode out without much fanfare. Wright gave them a big wave good-bye – too big. They all breathed easier as soon as they were off the property, and easier still as soon as they rejoined the men they had waiting in reserve.

The sheriff turned to them then and said, "Are you satisfied now?"

"Satisfied?" Nick asked, sarcastically.

"I've never seen an unhappier group of working people," Jarrod said. "Or a group better guarded."

"Happy or not, there's nothing there that I can prosecute Wright or anybody else on," the sheriff said.

"You can't really think those people are free to go if they want," Jarrod said.

"I saw better cared for slaves in Virginia," Nick said.

The sheriff turned icy. "There is nothing there for me to prosecute. I suggest you men go back to Stockton and leave us to ourselves here. Dr. Lane's tale is all spun out."

The sheriff abruptly turned his horse and rode off alone.

The Barkley men looked at each other, and then at Sloan and Ewell. "What did you men think?" Nick asked.

"You got it figured right," Sloan said.

"Well, Jarrod," Heath said. "I think you're gonna have to go run this by your DA friend."

Jarrod nodded. "I'll be on my way. You boys head on home. I'll send a telegram as soon as I get to Merced."

"You look out for yourself," Nick said.

Jarrod nodded and went on his way. The road to Done In turned off to the west only a few hundred feet down this main road. The rest of the Barkley men watched him go. They didn't start on their way until he had crested a hill and disappeared down the other side.

Heath hesitated, wanting to bring up the rear, but wanting even more to look around and see if anyone was watching them, and especially watching Jarrod. He didn't see anything, so he went off with the rest.

He didn't see the man on horseback in the grove of trees about a mile back toward the house. The man turned and went back to the compound.

XXXXXXX

Wright met the man he'd sent to watch the Barkleys as soon as the man came back to the house. "Well?" he asked as the man dismounted.

"The sheriff went back toward Millertown. One other fella peeled off and went toward Done In," the man said.

"Which one?"

"The black-haired Barkley, the one wearing the blue shirt," the man said.

Wright nodded. The one who did most of the talking.

"What do you want me to do, boss?" the man asked.

XXXXXX

Jarrod rode into Done In about a half hour after leaving his brothers. The place was as quiet as ever, not unexpected. Jarrod pulled up to the doctor's office, but had a good look around before he dismounted. He wasn't taking his safety for granted. He didn't think Wright would have him followed, but then again, he didn't think the man would start a slave fortress here in California, either. _I could always be wrong,_ Jarrod said to himself, and then he wondered if he should have had Nick or Heath come with him. Maybe he should have.

Jarrod dismounted and found the doctor coming out to meet him.

"You again," Dr. Lane said. "What do you want now?"

"I've just been out to the Wright place with my brothers," Jarrod said.

"And you saw a perfectly normal ranch."

"No," Jarrod said. "I saw a bunch of scared people and a nervous Dan Wright."

Dr. Lane straightened up. Somebody finally believed him. "What are you gonna do?"

"I'm headed over to Merced to see the DA. I want you to come with me."

Dr. Lane took a deep breath and let it out.

Jarrod pressed. "Dr. Lane, it's time for you to put up or shut up. If something is going on out there, there's never going to be another chance to stop it."

Dr. Lane hesitated.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

At about the time Jarrod was pressing Dr. Lane to make up his mind, Daniel Wright was making up his mind, too. He had sat down in his study and thought about it ever since his rider told him Jarrod had headed for Done In. He thought about what that Barkley might do. He thought about whether the other Barkleys had really gone back to Stockton, or were they shadowing the one going to Done In. He weighed the risks of trying to stop the man who went to Done In, versus doing nothing.

He had asked for coffee, and Mrs. Locklater brought it in to him. He did not thank her. He did not say a word to her. She went back out to where Mrs. Henry was getting the dining room ready for dinner. They looked at each other, then looked around to see if anyone was listening in. Comfortable no one was eavesdropping, Mrs. Linklater said, "What do you think? Did they understand?"

"I don't know," Mrs. Henry said. "They were suspicious, but I just don't know."

Mrs. Linklater sighed. "We may never get another chance."

"Why don't you talk to Walt about it? He was the sheriff. He'll know what to do."

"I will, tonight, if I'm sure they kids aren't overhearing."

Mrs. Henry nodded.

In the study, Wright had made up his mind. He was going to let Jarrod go, at least until there seemed to be more of a threat to his operation. As it stood, the sheriff of Millertown was accepting what Wright fed him. The man was always like that – he wanted no trouble to have to deal with. Wright figured if something happened to this stray Barkley now, it would bring the others roaring back, and maybe this time the law would be with them.

No, he decided. He had played the visit perfectly. For now, he was just fine. He wouldn't do anything. He'd just let everything stay where it was, but he would keep a sharp eye out, and if anybody else wanted to "visit" his property, he would be ready to refuse them, and let the chips fall where they may.

XXXXXXX

Try as he might, Jarrod could not get Dr. Lane to go with him to Merced. The man was just too scared, or too worried Wright would find him gone and take it out on the people he had working for him. Jarrod wasn't sure which, but he didn't have time to care. He headed for Merced alone.

He got there just as the DA, a man named Kenneth Dawson, was getting ready to leave his office for the day. "Can I have a few minutes with you, Ken?" Jarrod asked right away. "It's very important."

Dawson, a man just a hair younger than Jarrod who had been his adversary in a couple of cases, said, "Sure, Jarrod. Let's go over to Sundowner's and have a drink."

They walked across the street together to the saloon that the court personnel seemed to favor. Jarrod spotted a free table at the back. "Let's go over here. I really don't want anybody to listen in on us."

Dawson followed along, and soon the two of them were sitting with some good scotch in front of them. "So, what's up?" Dawson asked.

Jarrod sighed. "You may think this is unbelievable, but bear with me. I've checked it out. I think it's for real."

XXXXX

As Jarrod and Dawson were beginning to talk, Nick, Heath and the other men from the ranch were arriving home. Ciego took charge of the horses and Nick and Heath went into the house. Tired and dry, they headed for the refreshment table and were downing their first whiskey when Audra came down from upstairs.

"What happened?" she asked quickly.

"Nothing," Nick said, exasperated.

"Jarrod's gone to Merced," Heath said. "How is Mother?"

"In a lot less pain, but worried," Audra said.

"We should get a wire from Jarrod tonight," Nick said. "He expected to be home by tomorrow, or he'd wire again."

"Why don't we go tell Mother we're home?" Heath suggested. "We can put her mind at ease."

"I'll tell Silas you're back and have him get dinner ready," Audra said.

Nick and Heath put their drinks down and headed upstairs. When they knocked on Victoria's door, she told them to come in, and she looked immensely relieved when she saw who it was.

They both smiled at her. "Home safe and sound," Nick said. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I can get up and walk," Victoria said.

"Don't you dare," Nick said quickly.

"Is Jarrod with you?" Victoria asked.

"No, he's gone to Merced," Heath said. "We're expecting a wire from him anytime."

"So you didn't get anywhere at the man's ranch."

Nick shook his head. "Wright played it straight and we couldn't catch him at anything, even though it looked awful fishy. Jarrod's gonna talk to the DA in Merced, but if he won't start an investigation, I'm not sure what we're gonna do."

Victoria sighed. "You're absolutely sure he's holding people against their will."

"Jarrod is. That's enough for me."

"And me," Heath said. "I guess we're just gonna have to keep thinking if the DA in Merced won't help."

"Well, I'm relieved you're home," Victoria said. "I'm sorry you didn't get anywhere."

"Jarrod should be home tomorrow," Heath said. "He said he'd wire if he wasn't going to make it."

Victoria thought about it, and she shook her head. "How on God's earth can this man – this Wright fellow – get away with keeping people against their will?"

"He's shrewd," Heath said. "He's slick."

"Like a lizard," Nick said.

XXXXXXX

Dawson listened to what Jarrod had to say about Done In, about Dr. Lane, and about Daniel Wright, but when he was finished, Jarrod didn't like the look on Dawson's face. "So," Dawson said, "you really don't have anything concrete to go on other than this Dr. Lane's say-so, and he refused to come with you here."

"I have moldy food left at the sheriff's place," Jarrod said. "I have people at Wright's who are silent and looked every bit of scared to death. I got a man who's got his whole place locked down tight by armed men."

Dawson shook his head. "Jarrod, there's nothing there that would warrant me starting an investigation."

"What would warrant it?" Jarrod asked.

"A witness who's been held there and got away! A worker who's willing to testify that he's worked with people who aren't free to come and go as they please! An armed compound, people who look scared, moldy food and a doctor who refuses to back you up here with me – Jarrod, you know that's not enough."

Jarrod sighed. "I was afraid you'd see it that way, but Ken – I know Dr. Lane is telling the truth."

"Then you'd better find some way to turn what you believe into solid evidence. You just don't have enough for me to start an investigation over. I'm sorry."

Frustrated, Jarrod banged the table once and kept thinking. He had some preposterous ideas – find someone to get taken by Wright – get taken himself – sneak in there and get somebody out on his own – bribe somebody. He knew none of that would work and might very well get him hurt or killed. "Ken, I just have to find a way to get those people free."

"Look, Jarrod," Dawson said, leaning toward him and speaking softly. "I know you, and I know you wouldn't bring this to me if you didn't really believe it. But think of me as a judge with you trying to get a search warrant out of me. You know I could never grant it on what you've given me." Dawson leaned back again. "If I were you, I'd go home and sleep on it for a while. Maybe something will happen, or something will come to you. Or maybe you'll just have to forget it and let someone else get to the bottom of it someday. I don't know. But I can't help you."

They parted company with Jarrod feeling alone and angry. There just had to be something to do about this, but he didn't know how to find it. He checked his watch and decided it was too late to try to make it back to the ranch. He sent the telegram home, saying he'd be there tomorrow. Then he got himself something to eat and checked in at the hotel.

XXXXXXX

It wasn't until they crawled into bed that Sheriff Linklater's wife felt they were alone enough for her to tell her husband about the Barkleys' visit that day. Linklater listened carefully, and he was especially attentive after he heard the name Barkley. "That's the Stockton Barkleys," he said after she'd finished.

"I suppose," his wife said.

"One of them's a lawyer. He might be the one who asked you the questions."

"Maybe. Walt, it's the first inkling of a chance we've had since they took me. Can't we do something with it?"

Linklater spoke very quietly. "I can't think of what right now. The Barkleys are important people. We'd have to find some way to get through to them, make them see what's really happening out here. They're obviously part of the way there, but Wright is smooth. Right now I don't know how to get around him."

"I don't want you to try to get away. He'd kill you. But maybe if I tried – "

"No, Hattie, absolutely not," Linklater said quickly and kissed her. "I'm not letting you risk your life."

"And I can't let you risk yours. What else can we do? Get one of the others to try?"

"The only ones of us who don't have families don't have gumption either. That's why Wright's been able to keep us so far. We sure can't count on one of those old drunks to help us, even if they have sobered up."

They quieted down together, holding each other. Mrs. Linklater said, "I don't want our children living like this anymore. The thought of them spending their lives trapped like this tears me apart."

"I know, darling. I feel the same way. But right now I just don't know how to get by Wright. I just don't know."

On the other side of the door to their little bedroom, their oldest son Jason was listening. He heard every word, but he moved away from the door, all the way to the other side of the room, before he started to really think about what he'd heard.

"Aren't you gonna come to bed?"

Thirteen-year-old Jason looked over to his younger brother Joe, who shared a bed with him. He walked over there and said, "Not right now. I'm going outside."

"Outside? They'll shoot you!"

"No, they won't. I ain't going far. They won't even see me."

"What are you gonna do outside?"

"Think."

Jason got up and quietly went out the front door.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Jason Linklater was a skinny kid, and still fairly small. He hated that. He wanted to be big and strong enough to deliver his family from the monsters who came in the night and took them away. And brought them here to this nightmare they couldn't get away from. He used to think his father would come get them, but then one day they dragged his father in here, too. At least they let the family stay together, but Jason knew it was just because they'd be easier to control that way. Nobody around here was doing them any favors at all.

Done In was a horrible ruin of a town, but it was better than this. Jason longed for his real home as he stood outside, next to the little cabin. He looked up at the stars in the sky and wished he could fly up there, fly away. But he knew he couldn't fly.

He could run, though.

Jason heard one of the guards moving around in the dark. There was no moon tonight, not yet anyway, so it was impossible to see exactly where the man was. But that meant it would be impossible for the guard to see him, too. Jason knew where the stable was even without being able to see it, but he knew he could never get a horse and get away. They'd hear him and shoot him or chase him. If he was going to run, he'd have to actually run.

He knew where to go – Stockton, wherever that was. To the Barkleys, whoever they were. His parents thought the Barkleys were their best hope. If he was going to run, he'd have to find out where this Stockton place was and he'd have to find the Barkleys.

Jason wondered what they would do to his parents if they found him gone. Would they be beaten? Maybe. That thought scared him almost enough to keep him right here. Almost.

Jason knew the compound really well, especially the area between here and the vegetable garden they had to tend day in and day out. That garden was not too far from the edge of the fenced in area, and he knew he could get beyond the fence and to the road that led away from here if no guard heard him. He remembered a branch of the road that went off to Done In, and another branch that went off somewhere he did not know. That other branch would be the way the Barkleys went, probably.

The more he thought about it, the more he inched his way toward the vegetable garden. To get there he'd have to pass through a lot of open space, and he wasn't sure how to do that. Before he tried, he looked to see if there was any movement, any guard patrolling. He saw something move away toward the front of the house.

Shaking, Jason made a try for the vegetable garden, and he made it. Once there he sat down low to catch his breath and get his courage together to try for the fence. "I gotta do this, Ma," he whispered and hoped, somehow, she would hear him.

XXXXXXX

Jarrod left Millertown even before sunup, hoping to be home by late afternoon, still disturbed that he wasn't able to talk Dawson into starting an investigation and that he wasn't able to think of something else to do to help the people kept at the Wright ranch. During the night, he woke up with a start, suddenly afraid that their "visit" to the place might prompt Wright to do something desperate, like pulling out and abandoning those people, or worse. He knew if he was going to pursue this any further, he was going to have to be furtive about it. If Wright got wind of what he was doing, there was no telling what he might do.

The road from Millertown to Stockton didn't pass any closer to Wright's place than about five miles, and Jarrod was happy to pass on by the closest spot and leave Wright behind. There were only a couple very small towns along that road. Mostly there were farms and ranches, and Jarrod didn't expect to run into anyone along the way. That's why he was surprised to see the kid on foot as he rounded a bend.

Jarrod slowed. The kid stopped. Heading the same way Jarrod was going, the kid turned – and then tried to run.

"Whoa!" Jarrod yelled and rode after him.

The kid ran off the road, but there was no cover here and nothing to keep Jarrod from riding after him. Jarrod caught up fast, dismounted fast, and caught the boy by the collar.

"Hold up, there!" Jarrod yelled. "I'm not gonna hurt you!"

Jason Linklater turned on him, threatening him with both fists.

Jarrod grabbed Jason's wrists. "I won't hurt you! Quit trying to hit me, boy!"

Jason gave up, going limp and almost dragging Jarrod to the ground. Then he started to cry.

Jarrod had to get on his knees to keep hold of those wrists. "I'm not gonna hurt you, son," he said, more quietly. "I'm just out here on my way to Stockton. Where are you going?"

"Stockton," Jason said.

"Well, then, you can ride with me," Jarrod said with a smile. "My name's Jarrod Barkley. What's yours?"

Jason straightened like a lightning bolt had hit him. "Barkley?"

"Yes," Jarrod said, and he and Jason climbed to their feet as Jarrod loosened his grip.

"You came to Mr. Wright's place yesterday," Jason said.

Now it was Jarrod who felt like lightning had hit him. "Yes, I did. Is that where you're coming from?"

Jason didn't want to answer that question yet. "You talked to my mother."

"Your mother," Jarrod said and mentally went over the names of the two women at the Wright place. "Mrs. Linklater is your mother?"

"Yeah," Jason said and wiped the wetness from his face.

Jarrod felt more jolts of electricity run through him. "What's your name, son?"

"Jason."

"Did you run away from Mr. Wright's place?"

Jason nodded. "I heard my mother talking about you. I ran away to get to Stockton and find you."

Jarrod broke into a big grin. "Jason, you're just the man I've been looking for, too."

"Will you help us?"

"You bet I will!"

Jarrod mounted up and pulled Jason up into the saddle behind him. As he did, he wondered whether to keep heading home or go back to Millertown. He decided that since this boy was running from Wright, he didn't want to risk taking him any closer to the Wright place by going to Millertown, not alone.

"We're going to Stockton, Jason," Jarrod said. "We'll get help there. You hang on tight!"

XXXXXXX

"The oldest Linklater boy is gone," Wright's foreman said to him.

Wright looked up from his desk. "Gone?"

"Looks like he skedaddled during the night," the foreman said.

The thoughts that raced through Wright's head all led to the conclusion that that damned Hattie Linklater talked about the Barkleys coming here. Either she talked in the boy's presence, or he overheard her, but he took off because he thought he could get away now. "Get that family together and put them in their cabin. You talk to them and find out when that boy left and what he knows. Rough any of them up you want, but don't leave anything visible, you got that?"

The foreman nodded. "What about the mother? She's upstairs working."

"Leave her to me," Wright said.

The foreman immediately left.

Wright jumped up from behind his desk and strode fast upstairs. He looked into several rooms before he found Mrs. Linklater in the wc, cleaning up. She straightened up when she heard him, startled, and stepped back at the sight of his face.

"Why didn't you say that boy was gone?" Wright asked, almost foaming at the mouth.

She didn't answer.

Wright grabbed her by the wrist and shook her. "You talk, Hattie, or you're gonna get a whooping in front of your family and all."

"We didn't know he ran away," she said, crying.

"Where'd he go?"

"I don't know! He just ran off during the night! I swear it, Mr. Wright!"

He let her go, saying, "I'll ask your husband and your kids."

"No, please!" she begged. "Don't hurt my kids!"

"Then talk."

"All I know is he was gone this morning! I swear it, Mr. Wright!"

Wright still intended to grill the sheriff and their children once they were rounded up. "You keep working and you keep your conversation to yourself. I don't want to hear a word out of you anymore, you got that? You listen to me or I swear, I'll break that family of yours up!"

Mrs. Linklater nodded, cowering, crying.

Wright walked out.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Wright stormed over to the small cabin the Linklaters lived in. Only the two remaining Linklater children were there. The foreman still hadn't gotten their father in from the field. The lack of their parents didn't stop Wright any, nor did the tears and the cowering of the children.

"I want an answer right now," he said, loudly over the crying. "Where is your brother?"

The children were too frightened to answer.

Wright grabbed the oldest boy there. "Answer me!"

"We don't know! He's just gone!" the boy said. He resisted saying he knew his brother had gone out of the cabin during the night.

Wright shoved the boy up against the wall, hard. The boy cried even more, his hip hurting where it had hit the wall first, but he kept quiet about Jason.

Wright became even more irritated with the crying and the noise. "You kids are gonna stay right here until I decide whether to beat the living daylights out of you or not!"

Wright tore out of the cabin, leaving the children screaming now, terrified. The foreman was waiting just outside, and Wright immediately decked him. The rifle the foreman had been holding went flying away.

"If you'd been doing your job, that kid wouldn't have gotten away!" Wright screamed down at him.

The foreman looked up from the ground, staying still.

"I want you to get some men together and get them headed toward both Millertown and Stockton! I want that kid back before anybody can help him! And when Linklater gets here, I want him in the house straight off, you got that?!"

The foreman nodded.

Wright stalked away, back to the house, and the foreman slowly got up.

XXXXXXX

Stockton was still far enough away that Jarrod needed to stop, rest himself and Jason and his horse. He checked his watch as they sat on rocks and drank some water out of his canteen. He knew they were about an hour away from the ranch, and it was just past noon. If Jason had been missed, it would have been several hours ago. Wright still had an hour to catch up with the boy.

"When did you leave the Wright place, Jason?" Jarrod asked.

"I don't know," Jason said. "It wasn't all that long after it got really dark. I been running a long time."

Jarrod picked the boy up seven or eight miles from the Wright place. In the dark, the boy couldn't have been traveling very fast. An hour still to get home and to safety. Jarrod started thinking he'd better be ready for anybody who might be looking for the boy, while still acting confident enough to keep Jason from being frightened.

"It won't be long we'll be at my ranch," Jarrod said. "Once we get there, we'll get help together to go get your family and your friends."

Jason started to cry again. Jarrod put an arm around him.

"Don't be scared, Jason."

"I'm not," Jason said. "I'm just thinking about going home again, back to our real home, I mean."

"Done In?"

"Yeah."

Jarrod hesitated talking about the future, but he did say, "Your mother and father may decide to go elsewhere. How would you feel about that?"

"I just want to be away from Mr. Wright," Jason said and wiped his face. "As long as I'm with my family and away from Mr. Wright, I don't care where we are."

Jarrod gave him a pat on the back. "Let's go get to work on that."

They got up, mounted up and continued on toward Stockton.

XXXXXXX

Sheriff Linklater had been hauled into the house in front of Wright, who blasted questions at him that Linklater could not answer. "I don't know when he left," the sheriff kept saying. "He got out sometime during the night. He didn't make a sound. None of us know when it was he left."

"Where did he go?" Wright asked.

"I don't know. He never said a word."

"Did you say anything to him about the men who came here yesterday? Did your wife?"

"No, sir, nothing at all."

Wright grabbed the sheriff hard by the arm, tore him to the front door and threw him down into the yard. The foreman was there with two of the guards. They stood still, waiting for instructions.

Wright pulled Linklater to his feet and ripped his shirt open. "Lashes on this man!" he yelled. "Ten, on the back. I don't want them to show. Then we'll see if you keep quiet!"

XXXXX

Jarrod was happy to see the last hill they had to cross over before they reached the lane that turned off the Stockton road toward home. No one had bothered them, and now it looked like if they had to, they could make a run for it and get safely to the ranch property. Jarrod gave his horse a kick and took the hill a little quicker than he had been traveling, anxious to get to safety.

Especially when he heard the horses coming up behind them.

He had no idea if they were Wright's men or not, but he didn't plan to take any chances. The hill was steep enough that he had to slow a bit on the downslope, though. Whoever it was behind him was suddenly on top of him.

Jarrod turned his horse to block the newcomers and shield Jason at the same time. He looked hard at the three men on horseback who stopped to face him, trying to determine if he had seen them at Wright's ranch the day before. He couldn't tell.

"Good morning, gentlemen," Jarrod said. "Sorry to confront you like this, but I heard you coming up and couldn't tell if you were friend or foe."

The man who was going to do the talking looked at Jason, who was peeking around Jarrod's back. "Hello, Jason," he said. "Your parents are pretty upset you ran away. We'll just take this little rascal off your hands, Mr. Barkley."

Jarrod didn't remember them, but they obviously remembered him. He was outnumbered and unsure how to handle this, but he was not inclined to hand Jason over to these men. "I don't think so," Jarrod said, and he felt Jason's arms tighten around him.

"Don't go giving us trouble, Mr. Barkley," the man said. "We just want to take Jason back to his parents. You want to go home to them, don't you, Jason?"

Jason didn't say anything.

Jarrod suddenly lifted his gun from its holster. The three men tried to do the same but stopped when it was clear Jarrod had the upper hand.

"Jason is going with me," Jarrod said. "We'll get this all cleared up in a few hours."

"We have our orders, Barkley," the man said.

"I'll bet you do," Jarrod said.

One of the other men drew. Jarrod shot him fast but then he knew he had to make a run for it, because the other two were drawing and he could not hit them both. He turned and kicked his horse into a fast gallop, reaching back and pushing Jason as low as he could get him while holding him in the saddle, afraid the boy would be hit when the other two men started firing. Jarrod's hat went flying off when a bullet took it away. Jarrod ducked and kicked his horse even harder.

The two remaining Wright men came flying after him, but Jarrod had a good lead now. He could have fired back at them, but he was afraid Jason would get in the way. The boy was holding on for dear life, but one errant bump in the road could put him up and in the way, or completely off the horse.

Jarrod saw the sign for the Barkley Ranch not far away now. He tightened his arm around Jason, keeping him even lower. Almost there, almost there.

Under the sign and over the hill on the Barkley property, Jarrod kept moving as fast as he could, but it wasn't long before he was on the downside of the hill and took the chance of slowing and looking behind him. There was no one there. Jarrod turned his horse to face the hill, just in case. Jason sat up straighter when he turned, and he peeked around Jarrod. There was no one following him now.

Jarrod laughed. "You hung on there pretty well, Jason!"

"Are we safe now?" Jason asked.

"I think so," Jarrod said. "My house is right over the next rise."

Jarrod kicked his horse into moving, and he turned him to go the rest of the way home.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Jarrod rode into the stable yard and found his brothers there.

"Glad you made it home all right," Nick said as Jarrod dismounted.

Jarrod helped Jason down, saying, "This is Jason Linklater. His father is sheriff of Done In, and Jason just got away from the Wright ranch. Ciego!"

The stable man came running.

Jarrod handed the reins of his horse off to him. "He's had a big run of it, Ciego. Give him some cooling down and a real good drink and food and grooming, will you?"

"Si, senor," Ciego said and took Jarrod's horse off.

"Jason," Jarrod said, "these are my brothers, Nick and Heath. I think Jason and I could both stand to get something to eat."

"Sure thing," Heath said and began to guide Jason toward the house. "We got some good fried chicken left over from lunch, Jason."

As soon as they were out of the stable yard, Jarrod spoke quietly to Nick. "Three of Wright's men came after us. I left one of them in the Stockton road, maybe dead, I don't know. I don't know if the other two are still around, but they didn't follow us here."

Nick said, "I'll have somebody go take a look. Go get yourself something to eat." He slapped Jarrod on the back.

When Jarrod got into the house, he saw Heath and Jason disappearing upstairs toward the wc. Audra was in the foyer, waiting for him. "Are you all right?" she asked, took him by the arm and steered him toward the living room.

Where Victoria was sitting on the settee, her leg propped up on a pillow on the coffee table. Jarrod looked at her in surprise. "What are you doing out of bed?"

"Dr. Merar came this morning and said it was all right," Victoria said. "Nick carried me down. Answer Audra's question – are you all right?"

"Fine," Jarrod said. "Just missing my hat. Jason and I were chased by some men from Wright's place, but they're gone now. I think I might have killed one of them. Nick's having a couple men go look, but I suspect if I did, his two buddies have retrieved the body before we can get to it."

"But Jason has escaped," Victoria said. "You have a witness now."

Jarrod nodded. "And I plan to take him to Merced if I have to. The DA there wouldn't give me any help unless I found someone who escaped from Wright. Now I have."

"You can't take him back there alone," Audra said. "They might be waiting for you."

"I know," Jarrod said. "But what I also know is that his parents may be paying a price for his running away. We need to get back to Wright's place first, as soon as we can."

"You must take men with you," Victoria said.

"I plan to," Jarrod said.

Nick came in the door and joined them in the living room. "What do you want to do now, Jarrod?" he asked.

"We were just talking about that," Jarrod said. "I'll need some more men."

"It's gonna take more than we took to Wright's place, you know," Nick said. "If I was Wright, I'd have more men than you saw today ready to meet you on the road and stop whatever it is you're up to."

"Can you spare me twenty men?"

Nick rolled his eyes and took a deep breath. "Counting me and Heath, all right," Nick said. "But it'll take a while to round up the men, and we'll leave so late we'll have to stop for the night, probably near Millertown."

Jarrod nodded. "I understand that means a risk, but we need to get to Wright's place first anyway. Jason's family could be in trouble, especially when Wright's men come back with one of them dead. I'll clean up a bit before we eat."

Jarrod turned and headed upstairs to clean up. Nick looked after him, and both Victoria and Audra noticed a definite worry in Nick's eyes.

"You can't think this effort isn't worth it, Nick," Victoria said.

Nick shook his head. "No, I wasn't thinking that. I was just being grateful Big Brother made it home in one piece, and hoping this character Wright isn't taking Jason's disappearance out on his parents."

"Jason must be terrified," Audra said.

Nick nodded. "I know I am."

XXXXXXX

After a good lunch, Jarrod and Jason met Nick, Heath and a lot of their men in the stableyard. Ciego had fresh mounts ready for Jarrod and Jason. Jarrod lifted the boy up into the saddle.

"Thanks," Jason said. "I mean for everything, thanks."

Jarrod smiled. "No need to thank me, Jason. You and I, we're doing the right thing, and we're doing it together."

"If you hadn't found me, Mr. Wright's men would have."

"Maybe," Jarrod said. "But let's not think about that right now. Let's go do the work we have to do."

Jason began to tremble.

"What's the matter? Are you scared?" Jarrod asked.

"What if he's done something to my parents?"

Jarrod had wondered how he was going to answer that question when it came. "We're going to believe he hasn't, Jason, because he probably hasn't. We're going to get them free and get you home again. Believe that."

Jason tried a smile, but Jarrod knew his heart was only partly in it. He gave the boy a slap on the back.

That made Jason smile.

Jarrod mounted up and found Nick looking hard at him. "What are we going to be doing today?"

"Getting to Wright's place as fast as we can," Jarrod said.

"You're the one who warned me they could shoot us for trespassing."

"I know," Jarrod said, and left it at that.

Nick turned his horse and took himself to the head of the crowd, ready to lead the way.

"You know, this could turn into another Sample's farm, don't you, Jarrod," Heath said. It was a statement, not a question.

Jarrod nodded. "I know, but this is just as important."

Heath said, "We better not go underestimating Wright."

"I'm not," Jarrod said. "That's why I want so many men going with us. They need to know what we're up against, Heath."

Heath nodded. "We already told them and got volunteers. Lots of our men worry more about missing a fight than they do about getting killed in one."

"We're gonna do everything we can to keep anybody from being killed," Jarrod said. "But listen, Heath. I plan to help the Linklaters out, help them get resettled after they get free. If anything should happen to me – "

Heath nodded fast. "I'll see it gets taken care of, Jarrod. Just you don't let anything happen to you."

"Nor you, Brother Heath," Jarrod said.

XXXXXXX

It was late afternoon when Wright's men who had gone after Jason came stumbling in, carrying the body of one of them. Wright came out of the house and glared up at them when he saw Jason was not with them. "Sorry, Boss," one of the men said. "He got to the Barkleys."

Wright didn't respond to him. Instead, he spoke to his foreman standing next to him. "Those Barkleys will be coming anytime. I want every man ready to stop them."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Everyone rode past the item lying in the road, but Heath saw it, jumped down and picked it up. Quickly rejoining the rest of the men, he stuck his finger through the hole in Jarrod's hat and rode up beside him. "You want this souvenir, Jarrod?" he asked.

Jarrod could see what he was holding and how he was holding it. Jarrod hadn't had a chance to get another hat, so he chuckled, took his battered old one from Heath, and put it on. The hole was scarcely an inch above his hair.

Nick saw what they were doing. "The Barkley luck had you covered today, Pappy," he said.

Jarrod smiled. "Comes from all my good clean living, Nick."

Nick laughed and they moved on.

They kept their spirits up and laughter was not uncommon, but getting closer to Wright's property, the laughter faded and they were far more observant about what was going on around them. The terrain was open now. The light was beginning to fade but they would have seen anyone coming. They didn't see anything – until they were very close to the road that branched off toward the Wright ranch.

Nick held his hand up, stopping everyone, and pointing. Beyond a hill, cross country, he could see dust rising. "That could be riders," he said.

Jarrod said, "Yeah, and enough of them that we know where they're coming from. That could be his whole army."

"I can't believe he'd have that many after us," Nick said. "Even if he managed to win out, he'd be losing. His operation is exposed now, no matter what."

"Never underestimate a tyrant's hurt pride," Heath said. "They don't like being seen as weak."

"But tyrants don't leave themselves open, either," Jarrod said. "If I were a betting man, I'd say Wright isn't with his army. He's making a run for it."

"I'd bet with you," Heath said. "What do you want to do, Jarrod?"

Riders appeared at the top of the hill. A lot of them. "Well, there's not much cover here. I'm not too keen on just sitting here and getting hit."

"You commanded cavalry in the war," Nick said. "You up for a good old fashioned charge?"

Some of the men heard his question, and assents started going around. "Charging when it wasn't expected often scared the other side off," Jarrod said. "We don't have enough time to line up for it properly, but we'll go for it – but Jason!"

Jason was nearby and listened. All the horses were beginning to get skittish.

Jarrod said, "You pull yourself back up the road to that rock outcropping a couple miles back. Wait for somebody to come for you, and if nobody does in half an hour or so, you head back to Stockton."

Jason hesitated.

"Go!" Jarrod yelled, and Jason went. Then Jarrod told his brothers, "I'm gonna ride right through this bunch and go for Wright's place."

"Not alone, you're not!" Nick yelled. The riders coming on were getting closer.

"You come after me after you get these guys under control," Jarrod said, his voice getting louder. "Wright is mine, and I'll have him."

Jarrod took off at the head of the Barkley troops, and everyone followed along right behind him.

And then it was chaos. Shots were fired, but everyone was moving so much that it was a long time before even the first man was hit. By that time, Jarrod had blasted his way right through the oncoming men, who kept their concentration on the Barkley men now beginning to fire at them. Jarrod didn't take the time to glance back, figuring he was either going to make it through and away fast or he was going to get shot out of the saddle at any moment. He got lucky. He could hear the fight fading into the distance as he got away, and he finally looked over his shoulder as he crested the hill.

Men were down, but no one yet was after him. He couldn't see how his brothers were faring, and he couldn't take the time to look harder. He kicked his horse into a faster gallop and was over the hill in seconds.

Jarrod was on the Wright property and up to the house within a few minutes, where he slowed, suspicious. There was no one – no one at all – anywhere. No guards, no workers, no children. Not a living soul. He trotted carefully up to the house, dismounted and tethered his horse to the rail there. He pulled his sidearm out, looking around.

Everybody was gone.

Or was Wright still around here somewhere? Carefully, Jarrod went up to the front door and turned the knob. The door opened. Jarrod went inside.

Cautious, he took it slow, looking everywhere. If Wright wasn't here, he could be out in the barn, moving in behind him. He could even be hiding out in the vegetable garden. Jarrod figured Wright had sent all his trusted men out to confront his brothers and their men, but where was he? Where were his enslaved workers?

Jarrod looked everywhere in the house. Wright was not there.

He wasn't sure how long it took, but as he was coming back to the front door, he heard a couple horses ride up fast. Putting himself against the wall beside the door, he looked carefully out through the glass, and saw his brothers dismounting in the yard. Jarrod opened the door but did not stand in the doorway, just in case Nick and Heath were skittish. "It's Jarrod!" he yelled.

Both Nick and Heath had their sidearms drawn, but lowered them as Jarrod came out onto the porch, lowering his. "Where is everybody?" Nick asked.

Jarrod shook his head. "I know where his loyalists are – out fighting with you. But I haven't found him or anybody else yet."

"We got the best of his men out there," Heath said. "Lost a few of our own, but Wright lost more."

"Where's Jason?" Jarrod asked.

"Sloan went to fetch him," Heath said.

"We better check some of these outbuildings," Nick said.

"Yeah, but I'll bet Wright is gone," Jarrod said. "He probably took off as soon as his army was gone. And his slaves are probably scattered all around here."

"Not everywhere," Heath said and pointed off toward a field off to his left.

The disappearing light made it difficult to see, but they did see them. People were coming up out of the field, looking as if they were coming up out of the ground. Jarrod remembered watching entire regiments of soldiers seeming to rise up out of the ground like that during the war, hidden by swales in the terrain that were pretty well invisible at a distance. The people coming toward them were on foot. Each of the Barkley men was pretty certain they were the enslaved workers, coming back.

There were women in the lead. The Barkleys recognized Mrs. Linklater and Mrs. Henry. They smiled and headed toward them.

"Where's my son?" Mrs. Linklater cried as soon as she thought she could be heard.

"On his way!" Nick called back.

"Is anybody hurt?" Jarrod called.

Everyone shook his head as the people drew close. Sheriff Linklater came to the forefront now. "I took a little beating, but no, we're all right. We all took off when the guards left, not even an hour ago."

"Did you see where Wright went?" Jarrod asked.

"He mounted up and took off to the east as soon as his men were gone," the sheriff said.

Jarrod sighed. He had wanted Wright. He had wanted his hands around the man's throat.

Nick and Heath saw how dark his anger was getting. "Easy there, Pappy," Nick said. "Soon as we get to Millertown, we'll get wanted posters out."

Jarrod nodded and hostered his gun, feeling that now at least the sheriff in Millertown had a problem he couldn't brush off. "We gotta get you folks out of here, at least back to Done In. Do we have the men to get them there and protect them?"

"We have to clean up out at the fight," Heath said. "We should get whoever's alive to Millertown, get help if they're wounded and get them in jail if they're not. That's gonna take a while and it's already nearly dark."

The sheriff said. "We can stay here tonight. We'll be all right."

"Jason!" Mrs. Linklater suddenly cried and began to run toward a rider with another horse carrying a small rider, coming down the hill.

"Whoa," Nick said, grabbing her. "Relax, he'll be here in a minute.""

"Tell you what," Jarrod said. "Heath, you stay here with me. Nick, you and Sloan get back to the fight and take care of getting that mess organized and off to Millertown. Do you have enough able-bodied to do that?"

"Yeah," Nick said, and he began to remount as Sloan arrived and Jarrod lifted Jason down into the yard.

"Ma!" Jason yelled and ran into his mother's arms. In a moment, the whole Linklater family was surrounding them.

Jarrod smiled, but he looked away, in the direction Wright had gone. He was livid that the man had gotten away, but he was also wary enough to be on the lookout, in case he hadn't gone far. In case he was planning on coming back.

Not that he should have. He should have gotten as far away as he could get, and still be going. But a tyrant like Wright didn't necessarily do what seemed smart. Tyrants tended to think they were invincible.

Heath saw where Jarrod was looking. "We'll keep a sharp eye out, Jarrod."

Jarrod nodded.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

It took until well after dark for Nick and the other Barkley men to get the survivors of the fight to Millertown and help, or jail, whichever applied. Jarrod and Heath kept the former slaves safe, getting them secure in Wright's house. The women made food for themselves and the men and the children. Jarrod and Heath patrolled the grounds much as Wright's men had always done, only now, they were watching carefully in case Wright came back.

He didn't.

When Jarrod and Heath heard horses coming, they met up at the front door. There were more than a dozen riders. A couple of them carried torches – Nick was one of them. In a moment, Nick handed the torch off to another man and dismounted.

"Everything taken care of?" Jarrod asked.

"Yep," Nick said with a grin and joined them. "We've got three men wounded, but none dead. Wright lost seven men, three dead. The rest gave up and are sitting in jail in Millertown. The sheriff finally got the message."

"Did you wire Mother and Audra?" Heath asked.

Nick nodded. "I told them we were all right and would be back in a day or two. You got any food left around here?"

"Lots," Heath said. "The women have been cooking everything in sight. I don't think this place has seen a bigger party in years."

Nick laughed and waved the men in. The torches were extinguished, and soon the Barkley men were following Nick inside. The men heard Mrs. Linklater cry, "It's another Barkley!" when she saw Nick. Heath and Jarrod laughed as the rest of the men went by, the people inside laughing and cheering, and before long, the party and the food were all spilling out of the house and into the yard, with lamps and lanterns lit everywhere.

Nick came back out with a plateful of food. "Have you two eaten?" he asked his brothers.

Heath solved the problem by taking part of the sandwich Nick had on his plate.

"In a bit," Jarrod said.

"Best you get some food in your belly, or you won't be finding anybody anywhere," Nick said.

Jarrod came back out of his thoughts and smiled. "Did you leave me anything to eat, Nick?"

"Might be a bit of roast beef, or maybe an egg or two," Nick said with a grin.

Jarrod went inside to get something to eat. Nick and Heath both looked out at the party in the yard. "We got awful lucky today, Nick," Heath said.

"I know it," Nick said. "That battle was almost as bad as Sample's farm."

"Sample's farm didn't have a cavalry charge," Heath said. "Our men who were hurt – they all okay?"

"Yeah," Nick said. "Nothing too serious."

After a while, Jarrod came back out with a plate of food, mostly beans and some bread. "You didn't leave me much, Nick. But the ladies are baking some cakes."

"Yum, cake," Nick said.

"We need to talk to these people tomorrow, see where they want to go," Jarrod said.

"You know," Heath said, "there's still a ranch here to tend to – cattle and milk cows and chickens."

"That's your department, Pappy," Nick said. "Legalities and things. Who gets the ranch now."

"I know," Jarrod said. "I'll get to it once we know the people are taken care of. Shouldn't take too long to get a receiver lined up to take care of things. You can milk the cows in the morning, Nick."

Nick gave a fake sneer.

Jarrod laughed. "I already talked to Sheriff Linklater. The animals will be taken care of in the morning. The milk cows can go with the woman who's been tending them, and the chickens can scratch for themselves until somebody comes to take them."

"Cattle and horses?" Nick asked.

"Yeah, there's a problem," Heath said.

"I talked to Sheriff Linklater about that," Jarrod said. "He'll talk to one of the ranchers closer to Done In, see if he can get him to come get them until the receiver decides what to do with them. We'll do the best we can to see there's something of this place left to compensate these people in the end."

Nick and Heath looked at him. There was something weary in his voice. He looked both happy and unhappy at the same time. "What's bothering you, Pappy?" Nick asked. "This all worked out pretty darned well."

"Except we don't have Wright," Jarrod said.

"He's finished, Jarrod," Heath said. "We may have to settle for that."

Jarrod shook his head. "No. He's mine. I'll have him."

Nick and Heath looked at each other. Jarrod was drifting off into his head. "Jarrod, you'd better watch that considerable temper of yours," Nick said.

"My temper is fine," Jarrod said. "I'll have Wright, sooner or later, and I'll have him behind bars."

"That may be pretty hard to do," Heath said. "We don't have a clue where he went."

"Wanted posters," Jarrod said. "And I have contacts in a lot of places. I'll find him."

Nick and Heath looked at each other again. Jarrod was off on another one of his crusades already, and while they couldn't fault him for this one – especially since they knew all about it from the get-go – it still troubled them.

Jarrod idly left the porch, walking down into the yard, talking to the Barkley men down there and to the other people laughing, eating, enjoying themselves. Nick and Heath watched him.

"How are we gonna keep Jarrod on the straight and narrow about Wright?" Heath asked. "He might go after him."

"He might," Nick agreed. "We'll keep an eye on him. If he tries to go off on his own, we'll just have to haul him back in. Or go with him."

Heath gave a little grin. "That's what I was hoping you were gonna say."

"Jarrod might not be too happy to hear me say it," Nick said. "But let's just see how things go over the next few weeks. Maybe we'll get lucky and somebody will turn Wright in before Jarrod can go off on a tear."

"Sometimes he gets just a bit too eager to right the wrongs," Heath mused.

"Maybe," Nick said, "but I do kinda like our Pappy the way he is. I don't want to change him." And he smiled.

Heath chuckled. "Yeah, I'm with you on that."

Epilogue

All of the people enslaved by Wright, including David his cook, decided to go back to Done In. Dr. Lane was pretty amazed, as were the Barkleys, but everyone decided that they wanted to go home, and they wanted to make Done In new again.

"So, we're renaming it," Jarrod read from the letter he received from Sheriff Linklater, smiling big and happy. "Our new name is 'Revived,' and we aim to make our sad little town a happy and prosperous place again."

"Oh, that's wonderful," Victoria said. Her leg was still wrapped heavily so she was stuck on the settee, but she was getting used to it.

"I hope they make it," Heath said. "They're right fine people."

"I think I'll head down that way in a week or so and see how they're doing," Jarrod said. "Maybe see what kind of businesses they plan to be starting up, make an investment or two."

Nick came in the front door about then. "Jarrod!" he yelled.

In his thinking chair, Jarrod winced. "Right here, Nick. You don't have to yell."

"He always yells," Audra said. "He's not going to stop now."

Nick came in and handed a telegram to his older brother. "You may want to yell when you read this. It's from your police sergeant friend in San Francisco. You didn't mention you contacted them about Daniel Wright."

"No, I contacted a lot of people," Jarrod said as he unfolded the telegram. "I didn't think I needed to mention all of them." And then he read the telegram. His eyes lit up, his mouth went open, and then he clenched the telegram in his fist with a, "Yes!"

Nick grinned. "The police in San Francisco picked up Daniel Wright trying to get a ship down to Mexico."

"No wonder nobody could find him heading south overland," Heath said.

"We guessed wrong," Nick said. "Jarrod guessed right."

"No, I just covered more of my guesses than you did," Jarrod said, and he sighed a big, relieved sigh.

Victoria smiled. "Perhaps you'll sleep better now."

"We've all heard you prowling around in the middle of the night," Audra said.

"I'm sorry," Jarrod said. "I thought I was being quiet."

"Talking to yourself like that?" Heath said. "I don't think so."

"I was talking to myself?" Jarrod asked.

"Yes," everyone said together.

"You often do that when you're thinking out loud," Victoria said.

"Well, that's a habit I'll break, starting now," Jarrod said. "Daniel Wright is locked up. That makes me a very happy man."

"When you told me about the slaves who came running to the Union army during the war," Audra said, "I knew you'd be seeing this through until you got that man in jail."

Jarrod and Nick both pictured times back east, years ago. "It wasn't like we were able to do much for those people back then," Jarrod said. "They were saving themselves. It's just good that this time, we could do something. We could really help."

"And I'm proud of every one of you," Victoria said. "It was well worth my broken leg and a broken buggy when it led to righting a terrible wrong."

"We always need to be watching, though," Heath said. "There are more Daniel Wrights we gotta be ready for."

"We will be," Jarrod said. And he looked at his brothers and nodded.

They nodded back.

The End


End file.
